Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target cut by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $185.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.45% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5 %

Alphabet stock opened at $151.08 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Community Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.