Moody National Bank Trust Division Has $10.61 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,610 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of Moody National Bank Trust Division's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Moody National Bank Trust Division's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $169.73. 52,598,920 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,980,554. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $159.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.59.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase 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 is presently 9.36%.

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.