Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Cut to “Market Perform” at JMP Securities

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

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.44.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $191.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $180.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The company has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. 40.03% of the stock is 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.