Citigroup Cuts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $195.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $229.00 to $195.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. 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, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.51.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Thursday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $168.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the 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 directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is 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.