Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Cut to $160.00 by Analysts at DA Davidson

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price reduced by DA Davidson from $200.00 to $160.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.49.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $159.07 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $167.87 and its 200 day moving average is $176.28. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results 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 forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 118,497 shares of company stock worth $20,837,150 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.