Arvest Bank Trust Division Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Arvest Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $155.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $168.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.