Retirement Planning Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 877 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $170.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $158.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities 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 data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,722,605. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.