Northern Financial Advisors Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $237.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

About Alphabet

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.