Better Money Decisions LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Better Money Decisions LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,120 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $637,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $168.05 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $159.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.