MCF Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Columbia Asset Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Columbia Asset Management now owns 39,706 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,283,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Hill Investment Group Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% during the second quarter. Hill Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 2,382 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.7% during the second quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,843 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares during the period. SouthState Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 129,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,832,000 after buying an additional 2,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 55.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 2,455 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 200,532 shares of company stock valued at $34,055,874 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $152.13 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $172.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $165.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.