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

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.82 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $171.16. The stock had a trading volume of 13,649,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,634,053. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $107.72 and a 12 month high of $176.42. The business’s 50-day moving average is $152.74 and its 200 day moving average is $144.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.