Mason & Associates Inc Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mason & Associates Inc raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,569 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Mason & Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,965,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Beck Bode LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 67,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,385,000 after purchasing an additional 4,456 shares in the last quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,941,000 after buying an additional 4,539 shares during the period. Concorde Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Somerset Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Somerset Group LLC now owns 10,501 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,926,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 33.5% in the second quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $197.55 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $202.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.