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

Hickory Point Bank & Trust grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted 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 buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Perritt Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,587,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $436,570,192.16. The trade was a 1.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target 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, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.