First National Bank Sioux Falls Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First National Bank Sioux Falls raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of First National Bank Sioux Falls’ portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. First National Bank Sioux Falls’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 66,641 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,058,000 after acquiring an additional 2,236 shares during the last quarter. ERn Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the first quarter. ERn Financial LLC now owns 16,595 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. PFS Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.8% during the first quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 1,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 32,195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,859,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $182.15 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $115.35 and a 12-month high of $186.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $172.85 and its 200 day moving average is $154.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.