Stephens Inc. AR Buys 13,160 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 284,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,160 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Orca Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% in the third quarter. Orca Investment Management LLC now owns 17,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,967,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 10,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,743,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $439,000. Procyon Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.5% in the third quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 147,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,418,000 after purchasing an additional 17,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $464,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 98,919 shares of company stock valued at $18,528,318. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $185.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $192.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

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.