Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 10,043 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 380,342 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 10,043 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of Meritage Portfolio Management's portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet 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 $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $177.62. 29,191,793 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,781,916. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $169.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.13.

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.