Citizens Jmp Downgrades Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) to Hold

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) was downgraded by analysts at Citizens Jmp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $193.13 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $181.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.90. The company has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sunburst Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sunburst Financial Group LLC now owns 2,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Phillips Financial Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 3,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $644,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,492 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.