Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 8.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded down 8.1% on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $232.00 to $220.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $188.03 and last traded at $189.64. 32,139,526 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 26,173,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $206.38.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 3.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,029 shares of company stock worth $18,462,883. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 8.2 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $190.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

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.