Harfst & Associates Inc. Buys Shares of 1,255 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Harfst & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. REDW Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the second quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LongView Wealth Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $320.28 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $328.67. The business’s 50 day moving average is $267.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total value of $9,640,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,304,619 shares in the company, valued at $683,642,180.16. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 227,850 shares of company stock worth $58,874,814 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $304.62.

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.