Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Alphabet shares gapped down after Truist Financial cut its price target from $430 to $420, even though the firm kept a buy rating. The stock opened well below its prior close and was last trading around $318.55.
• Despite the pullback, Wall Street remains broadly bullish on GOOG, with an average analyst rating of Buy and an average price target of $411.30. Several other firms recently reiterated or raised targets, including KeyCorp, Roth Capital, Citi, and Wolfe Research.
• Alphabet’s latest earnings were strong, with EPS of $9.11 and revenue of $119.8 billion, both beating estimates. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share, up from $0.21.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $430.00 to $420.00. The stock had previously closed at $341.91, but opened at $321.63. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet shares last traded at $318.5450, with a volume of 11,505,370 shares trading hands.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on GOOG. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Roth Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $460.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $411.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud delivered a major revenue and growth beat, reinforcing that Alphabet’s AI investments are driving real enterprise demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts kept bullish ratings and only modestly trimmed price targets, signaling Wall Street still sees meaningful upside.
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini is nearing another billion-user milestone, highlighting strong adoption across Alphabet’s AI ecosystem.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet launched new Gemini model updates and security features, including video-selfie account recovery, which are incremental product improvements.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher AI capex and negative free cash flow are driving investor concern that spending is outrunning short-term monetization.
• Negative Sentiment: The EU imposed an approximately $1 billion antitrust fine on Google over Search and Play Store practices, adding regulatory pressure.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company's 50-day moving average price is $363.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.41, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $6.23. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.06 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.