MFA Wealth Services Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

MFA Wealth Services acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,282 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 77.3% during the second quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 106,052 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,317,000 after acquiring an additional 46,223 shares in the last quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.3% during the second quarter. Foresight Global Investors Inc. now owns 8,972 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,634,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 1,211 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $208,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $109,836,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target 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. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,887 shares of company stock worth $22,470,464 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of GOOGL traded up $4.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $199.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,551,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,832,391. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. The company's 50-day moving average is $187.53 and its 200-day moving average is $173.84. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $202.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.