Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Decatur Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,795 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,226 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 7.1% of Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Decatur Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $151.08 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.