Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Meeder Advisory Services Inc.

Key Points

• Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 8.1%, owning over 102,944 shares valued at approximately $16 million at the end of the reporting period.
• Several institutional investors made significant adjustments to their investments in Alphabet, with GAMMA Investing LLC drastically increasing its position by 18,562.3%, owning over 14 million shares valued at approximately $2.2 billion.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, set to be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.43%.

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,944 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,686 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.0% of Meeder Advisory Services Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,083,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $190.09. The stock had a trading volume of 14,404,353 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,279,859. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $178.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.70. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.