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

Argent Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 36.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. 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 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 22,713 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,512,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.7% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 19,493 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,014,000 after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the period. Kendall Capital Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the first quarter. Kendall Capital Management now owns 19,165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,964,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 13.8% during the first quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,349 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the first quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $168.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.95.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last 90 days. 11.64% 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.