Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 19.9%, owning 276,123 shares after purchasing an additional 45,848 shares.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings surpassed estimates, with an EPS of $2.31 and revenue of $96.43 billion, marking a 13.8% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a 0.43% dividend yield, payable on September 15th.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 276,123 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 45,848 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.9% of Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Meeder Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $190.09. 14,404,353 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,279,859. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $178.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $235.00 price objective (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of 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 represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 249,399 shares of company stock valued at $43,525,794. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by 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.