Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Has $11.11 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,713 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,542 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.8% of Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $177.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.