Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the quarter. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 569,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $107,869,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989 shares in the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $5,792,000. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Kapstone Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,306,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,509,290 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $285,709,000 after acquiring an additional 56,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $297,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $164.29 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.08 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $185.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Company 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.