Ledyard National Bank Sells 2,607 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,222 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,607 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of Ledyard National Bank's holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Ledyard National Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock worth $35,764,898. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

GOOGL stock traded down $1.41 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $177.12. The stock had a trading volume of 11,447,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,177,392. The business has a 50-day moving average of $166.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.