Northern Financial Advisors Inc Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. IFS Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its holdings in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $226.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.66. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $256.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $270.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $241.00.

Alphabet Company 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.