Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by First Merchants Corp

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 11.6% during Q2, selling 1,740 shares, bringing its total holdings to 13,231 shares worth approximately $2.35 million.
• Alphabet's stock price opened at $237.49, with a 1-year high of $256.70 and a low of $142.66, reflecting a 1.9% decline recently.
• In Q2, Alphabet reported earnings of $2.31 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and achieving a revenue of $96.43 billion, a 13.8% increase year-over-year.

First Merchants Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,231 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,740 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ACT Advisors LLC. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the second quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. LongView Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the second quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Kooman & Associates boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the second quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Brueske Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. Brueske Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,194 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

Alphabet stock opened at $237.49 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year 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 stock has a market cap of $2.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's fifty day moving average is $226.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.81.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares in the company, valued at $4,171,312.80. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group set a $255.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $241.00.

About Alphabet

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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