Meridian Management Co. Has $6.24 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Meridian Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 32,378 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,528 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of Meridian Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Smart Money Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Forte Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $645,000. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,430,000. Finally, Tradewinds LLC. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 44,838 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,005,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $336.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $284.12 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $246.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $202.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $291.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 222,442 shares of company stock valued at $51,200,307 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently 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.