Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Lowered to Market Perform Rating by JMP Securities

JMP Securities cut shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $220.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $189.43 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $179.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 154,519 shares of company stock valued at $27,734,316. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Trust Co of the South raised its stake in Alphabet by 35.3% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 5,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 2,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. SK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $331,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alphabet

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.