Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Falls 1.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price fell 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $435.00 to $410.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as low as $338.36 and last traded at $340.28. Approximately 17,873,277 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average daily volume of 30,396,473 shares. The stock had previously closed at $344.18.

Several other research firms also recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up from $379.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price (up from $415.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.34.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 402,479 shares of company stock worth $7,946,534 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google opens up its AI-chip software stack. Alphabet made TorchTPU, its open-source PyTorch version for Tensor Processing Units, available to developers. The move could reduce reliance on Nvidia GPUs, encourage broader adoption of Google’s custom AI chips and strengthen the long-term Google Cloud opportunity. Google has joined Amazon in attacking Nvidia’s stronghold with AI app developers
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion supports Alphabet’s longer-term growth story. The autonomous-driving unit reportedly plans to expand its robotaxi fleet to 20,000 vehicles by the end of next year and launch ride-hailing services in Madrid. A larger commercial footprint could improve Waymo’s strategic value, although the investment and execution requirements remain substantial. Waymo to launch autonomous ride-hailing in Madrid next year
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and earnings expectations remain favorable. BofA expects a modest third-quarter beat, supported by Google Cloud growth and demand for Alphabet’s AI chips, while BMO raised its price target to $480. Analysts continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong financial growth, search advertising leadership and AI upside ahead of the October 28 earnings report. Alphabet set for earnings beat as Cloud and AI chips take centre stage
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Cloud experienced a temporary U.K. outage. Banking apps and other services around London were disrupted, but services were largely restored. The incident may renew scrutiny of Cloud reliability without materially changing Alphabet’s long-term fundamentals. Google Cloud services largely back up in UK
• Negative Sentiment: AI-related legal risk remains an overhang. Multiple law firms are promoting a securities class action alleging Alphabet misrepresented the development timeline for its Gemini 3.5 Pro model. The lawsuits could increase reputational and financial risk, although their ultimate impact is uncertain. Investor Alert: Alphabet has been sued for securities fraud
• Negative Sentiment: Market-wide AI financing concerns are pressuring large technology stocks. Investors remain cautious about the scale and returns of AI capital spending, while Alphabet must demonstrate that Cloud growth and TPU sales are translating into sustained earnings and cash flow.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hegarty Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% during the third quarter. Hegarty Advisors LLC now owns 760 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 1,216,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $418,709,000 after purchasing an additional 25,513 shares during the period. Cornerstone National Bank & Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 47.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone National Bank & Trust Co now owns 412 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. 55 North Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. 55 North Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,675 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 259,412 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $89,258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $344.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $352.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.55 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.