Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,765 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after purchasing an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,334,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,996 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,183,979,000 after acquiring an additional 440,526 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $247.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $256.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $216.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $184.53.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Lake Street Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $230.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 257,866 shares of company stock worth $52,363,610. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.