Arvest Bank Trust Division Purchases Shares of 40,237 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 40,237 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,673,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,772,991,000 after acquiring an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Alphabet by 91.0% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,928,470 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,450,599,000 after purchasing an additional 3,777,527 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.69.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,590,960. This represents a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 178,957 shares of company stock worth $31,358,687 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

Alphabet stock traded up $2.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $191.41. 62,697,719 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,725,518. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $201.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $173.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $171.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.