MFA Wealth Services Purchases Shares of 3,282 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

MFA Wealth Services acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,282 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.9% in the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 203,376 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,306,000 after purchasing an additional 19,961 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 77.3% during the 2nd quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 106,052 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,317,000 after buying an additional 46,223 shares during the last quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. now owns 8,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,634,000 after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.0% during the 2nd quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $109,836,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $195.41 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $202.29. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $187.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.82.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.