Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Downgraded by JMP Securities to "Market Perform"

JMP Securities lowered shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $220.00 price target on the information services provider's stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp raised their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.69.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, hitting $189.43. 20,332,146 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,460,176. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $201.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $179.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,519 shares of company stock valued at $27,734,316 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lantz Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter. Pegasus Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,095 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,932 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,631,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. 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.