Piscataqua Savings Bank Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Piscataqua Savings Bank cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,376 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,865 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.9% of Piscataqua Savings Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Piscataqua Savings Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% in the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 4,160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $643,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Joule Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.5% in the first quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 14,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,186,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares during the period. Paragon Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 185.1% in the first quarter. Paragon Financial Partners Inc. now owns 3,766 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 2,445 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the first quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 66,168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,232,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Finally, Intergy Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $412,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Ten equities research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $173.68 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.34.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. 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%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. 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.

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