First Merchants Corp Has $52.38 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

First Merchants Corp reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 182,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,065 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.0% of First Merchants Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $52,382,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Members Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. China Renaissance boosted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $343.71 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $332.85. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.94 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was announced as the replacement for Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a high-profile index inclusion that can boost demand from index funds and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
• Positive Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and expanded portfolio-tracking tools, adding another product update that could support engagement across Google’s financial services ecosystem. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports noted Alphabet remains a favored large-cap tech name among some investors and that the stock had previously benefited from the Dow inclusion announcement.
• Negative Sentiment: News that multiple AI researchers are leaving Google for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI is pressuring sentiment, as investors worry about talent retention and competitive pressure in AI. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage of Google’s “brain drain” and reports that Gemini 3.5 Pro was delayed to July add to concerns that Alphabet may be losing ground in the AI race. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
• Negative Sentiment: The broader selloff also reflects anxiety around AI execution and competition, with investors reacting to talent departures and delays rather than the company’s longer-term fundamentals.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 151,523 shares of company stock worth $4,863,526 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.