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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reiterated by JMP Securities in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $158.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.93. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 46,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,000 after acquiring an additional 3,321 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.