Keystone Financial Services Acquires 119 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Keystone Financial Services increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,316 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Keystone Financial Services’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $235,000. Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 69.8% during the second quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,620 shares during the period. Perennial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the second quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC now owns 9,884 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Security Financial Services INC. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 15.5% in the 2nd quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 2,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Finally, Iowa State Bank increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.0% in the second quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 49,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,053,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $162.85 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $163.55. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total value of $3,772,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,159,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,126,319.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,823,893. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.74.

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.