Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Cut to Hold at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

Alphabet stock opened at $193.13 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,361,837.80. This represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,743,000 after acquiring an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.