Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.54.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $254.72 on Friday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $256.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $209.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total value of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.