Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by MFA Wealth Advisors LLC

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 28.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,666 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,554 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Cypress Capital LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $245.79 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The company has a market cap of $2.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $214.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock worth $52,405,304 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.90.

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.