Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 29,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,109,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the period. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after buying an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $620,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 3,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $167.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.86.

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.