First Interstate Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

First Interstate Bank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 10,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 1,173 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its stake in Alphabet by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 6,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $859,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank boosted its stake in Alphabet by 33.0% during the third quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 7,359 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $970,000 after buying an additional 1,826 shares during the period. CNB Bank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 27,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Finally, Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Sloy Dahl & Holst LLC now owns 8,238 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $157.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.72. The stock has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.27 and a fifty-two week high of $161.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $159.86.

Alphabet 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.