Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Has $715,000 Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,312 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 60,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,083,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the third quarter. Nicollet Investment Management Inc. now owns 49,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,259,000 after buying an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 36,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,058,000 after buying an additional 6,759 shares during the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.6% during the third quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 77,024 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,774,000 after buying an additional 33,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Marin grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Marin now owns 13,050 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $168.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $168.47 and a 200 day moving average of $170.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $127.90 and a 12 month high of $191.75. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

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.