Meridian Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opinicus Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the second quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 10,141 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 1,151,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $204,249,000 after purchasing an additional 70,311 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,179,036 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $386,539,000 after buying an additional 106,282 shares in the last quarter. Security Financial Services INC. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Security Financial Services INC. now owns 2,642 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,226,000 after buying an additional 1,899 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $276.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $292.36. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $257.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $209.48.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total transaction of $269,342.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,098,584.61. The trade was a 6.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 221,796 shares of company stock valued at $53,983,001. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

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.