Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 255 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm 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 quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after buying an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 143.7% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,288,201,000 after buying an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $168.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $168.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $170.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $127.90 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.