Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $167.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its price target decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $184.00 to $167.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the information services provider's stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.13.

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Alphabet Stock Down 4.0 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $6.32 on Monday, hitting $150.72. The stock had a trading volume of 45,898,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,456,561. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business's fifty day moving average is $177.19 and its 200 day moving average is $176.95. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock valued at $15,936,270. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Boston Common Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 27.7% in the first quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 170,429 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,355,000 after acquiring an additional 36,980 shares during the period. jvl associates llc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. jvl associates llc now owns 16,006 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,475,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 47,242 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,306,000 after purchasing an additional 5,687 shares during the period. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 28,424 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,395,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marotta Asset Management increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. Marotta Asset Management now owns 2,724 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. 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.