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

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total value of $600,175.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $121.46 and a 12 month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.