McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. Buys 825 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 30.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of McClarren Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $672,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Denver PWM LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $179.66 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.93.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.