Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 1% during trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $190.00 to $182.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $164.88 and last traded at $165.34. 4,592,261 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,407,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.99.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.14.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total transaction of $4,113,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,204,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $403,141,173.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,725 shares of company stock valued at $31,933,031. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,310,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.