Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Lowered to $200.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its target price cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $235.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the information services provider's stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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Alphabet Trading Down 3.1 %

GOOGL traded down $4.81 on Monday, reaching $152.23. 23,998,311 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,373,083. The company has a market cap of $1.86 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet has a one year low of $147.22 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.