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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Monday after Susquehanna lowered their price target on the stock from $225.00 to $220.00. Susquehanna currently has a positive rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $159.96 and last traded at $160.41. 9,994,661 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 28,219,684 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.96.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.89.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $161.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

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.