Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 6,672 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $168.21. The stock had a trading volume of 34,550,448 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,080,243. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $159.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.43. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. 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 - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, 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 have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.