Argent Advisors Inc. Has $2.18 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Argent Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 36.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,102 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,778 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning grew its stake in Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,531,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $2.74 on Monday, reaching $176.79. The company had a trading volume of 34,110,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,600,813. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $168.70 and a 200-day moving average of $173.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.