Lakeside Advisors INC. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Lakeside Advisors INC. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the quarter. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. LifeSteps Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. now owns 4,048 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $718,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $219,000. Nelson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 84,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,932,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 1,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, WoodTrust Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 56,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,347 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $237.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.66. 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 PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $256.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was 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 $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 quarter, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

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.