JMP Securities Reaffirms "Market Perform" Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market perform" rating reissued by equities research analysts at JMP Securities in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Alphabet stock traded down $2.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $168.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 35,166,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,747,753. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $158.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.87. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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.