Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,402 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,809 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.8% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after acquiring an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,412,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,344,778,000 after acquiring an additional 597,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.74.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $174.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $163.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $120.21 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,159,885 shares in the company, valued at $362,126,319.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 156,565 shares of company stock worth $26,823,893. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.