Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.9% on Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.9% on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $184.00 to $167.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $150.66 and last traded at $151.41. 13,884,327 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average session volume of 27,231,144 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.33.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.49.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 88,665 shares of company stock valued at $16,198,310. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $178.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.