Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Reduced by Argus Investors Counsel Inc.

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,380 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,219 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in 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 in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $240.76.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $221.25 and its 200-day moving average is $185.80. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Insiders own 11.64% 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.