First Merchants Corp Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Merchants Corp lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,551 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,676 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of First Merchants Corp's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $2.80 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $178.64. The company had a trading volume of 29,091,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,445,572. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $167.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.17. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho lowered their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 183,143 shares of company stock valued at $30,529,028 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.