Mason & Associates Inc Buys 491 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mason & Associates Inc raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.42. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Alphabet Profile

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.