Bank OZK Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Bank OZK cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 205 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.1% of Bank OZK’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Bank OZK’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,667,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $206.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $186.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.37. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $208.54. The company has a market cap of $2.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.95, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% 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 Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.