Hickory Point Bank & Trust Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.1% of Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $154,716,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.38. 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 capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Company 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.