Meredith Wealth Planning Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meredith Wealth Planning raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of Meredith Wealth Planning’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Meredith Wealth Planning’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

GOOGL opened at $170.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $190.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.20. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,309 shares of company stock worth $25,057,490 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

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.