Francis Financial Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Francis Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,445 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the quarter. Francis Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its position in shares of 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 period. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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. Fairman Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total value of $269,342.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. This represents a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $279.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $257.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $208.69. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $292.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.