First National Bank Sioux Falls Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First National Bank Sioux Falls grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of First National Bank Sioux Falls’ portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. First National Bank Sioux Falls’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $178.60 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $161.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.49. The company has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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 business 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Company 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.