Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Market Perform Rating at JMP Securities

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by JMP Securities in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $163.81. 6,206,631 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,080,934. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $160.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.