Alphabet shares close lower on Friday, Google to make additional investment in European data centers

According to a statement by Google’s Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai at a news conference in Finland, the company intends to invest additional EUR 3 billion over the upcoming two years in the expansion of its data centers across Europe.

Alphabet shares closed lower for the fifth time in the past thirteen trading sessions on NASDAQ on Friday. It has also been the steepest daily loss since September 3rd. The stock went down 0.71% ($8.78) to $1,229.93, after touching an intraday low at $1,223.87, or a price level not seen since September 18th ($1,216.53).

Shares of Alphabet Inc have risen 18.76% so far in 2019 compared with a 19.36% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Alphabet’s stock went down 1.03%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne said during the conference that additional EUR 600 million would be invested in a data center in the town of Hamina, Finland.

One of Google’s data centers is located in Hamina, where the company had to convert an old paper mill by investing EUR 800 million. In May, Google revealed plans to make a EUR 600 million investment in a new data center on the same site.

This way an estimated amount of EUR 2 billion is to be invested in Google’s Hamina site.

Google also has data centers located in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 41 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Alphabet Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $1,400.00, with a high estimate of $1,712.76 and a low estimate of $1,225.00. The median estimate represents a 13.83% upside compared to the closing price of $1,229.93 on September 20th.

The same media also reported that at least 35 out of 44 surveyed investment analysts had rated Alphabet Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 6 – as “Hold”.