Moody National Bank Trust Division Purchases 1,890 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.1% of Moody National Bank Trust Division’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $171.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $159.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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. 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.