Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Rating Lowered by Rosenblatt Securities

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) was downgraded by investment analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $181.00 target price on the information services provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ price objective suggests a potential downside of 1.32% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $183.42 on Friday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $187.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $174.40 and a 200-day moving average of $155.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock valued at $24,534,393. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,600,970,000. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.