Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Purchased by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, holding 146,022 shares valued at approximately $25.9 million.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenues up 13.8% from the previous year at $96.43 billion.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares recently, which led to a 1.32% decrease in his ownership, now totaling about 2.4 million shares valued at over $558 million.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,022 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after acquiring an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Alphabet by 5.4% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,334,852,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,183,979,000 after acquiring an additional 440,526 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $230.35.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares in the company, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $252.88 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.01. The company's fifty day moving average price is $211.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

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.

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