Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 37.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,311 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,966 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 12,303 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Exeter Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 137,364 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,657 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 64,761 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,015,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 68,610 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,610,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten 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, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were 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 directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $2.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $169.73. The company had a trading volume of 52,598,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,980,356. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.59. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend 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 (DPR) 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.