Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.4% of Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in 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 worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $145.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 50 day moving average price of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.68. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $145.38 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.