Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Argent Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Argent Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9% in Q2, holding 705,823 shares valued at approximately $124 million, which is 3.6% of its total portfolio.
• Insider sales include John Kent Walker selling 23,820 shares for over $4.6 million, reducing his ownership by 35.65%, while other company insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares worth approximately $52.4 million last quarter.
• Alphabet's most recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations with an EPS of $2.31 and revenue of $96.43 billion, leading to boosted price targets from multiple analysts ranging from $220.00 to $275.00.

Argent Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 705,823 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,188 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 3.6% of Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Argent Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $124,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $245.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $214.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Westpark Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $232.90.

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.

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