Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 3.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded down 3.5% during trading on Tuesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $220.00 to $202.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $156.72 and last traded at $158.60. 15,027,441 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 25,880,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.29.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.03.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Thoma Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,146,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 304,758 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,691,000 after acquiring an additional 4,815 shares during the last quarter. Members Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $519,000. Tableaux LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $454,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $377,984,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $185.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.