Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 4,542 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,713 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,542 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 7,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 18,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 163,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,194,000 after buying an additional 31,482 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 96,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,970,000 after acquiring an additional 2,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $157.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $177.19 and its 200-day moving average is $176.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.22 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock valued at $15,936,270. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.49.

Alphabet Company 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.