First Interstate Bank Sells 3,367 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Interstate Bank decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,498 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,367 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.6% of First Interstate Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. First Interstate Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.24.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

GOOGL traded up $0.97 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $182.97. The company had a trading volume of 33,066,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,989,978. The company has a market cap of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $171.04 and a 200-day moving average of $173.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock worth $31,223,348. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.