Decker Retirement Planning Inc. Sells 681 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Decker Retirement Planning Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 79.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 178 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 681 shares during the period. Decker Retirement Planning Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $168.36 and a 200 day moving average of $174.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.