Peregrine Capital Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 164,566 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,626 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Peregrine Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Peregrine Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 6,445 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 15,977 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,043,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,300,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $176.91. 24,840,304 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,092,761. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company's 50-day moving average price is $168.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,555,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. This trade represents a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $35,682,228. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.