Clark & Stuart Inc Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Clark & Stuart Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 29.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Clark & Stuart Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. RDA Financial Network raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. RDA Financial Network now owns 11,094 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares in the last quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 3,626,927 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $643,381,000 after purchasing an additional 15,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GC Wealth Management RIA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 115.7% during the second quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 214,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,031,000 after purchasing an additional 115,003 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $242.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $256.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $226.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.21.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.00.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 approximately $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 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.