Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Buys 11,516 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,351 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,516 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.10 on Monday, hitting $176.77. The stock had a trading volume of 27,312,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,650,289. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business's fifty day moving average is $162.89 and its 200 day moving average is $174.68. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock valued at $32,003,532. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.