Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 8.2%, now holding 95,322 shares valued at approximately $14.74 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Guardian Wealth Management and IMA Advisory Services, have recently made significant adjustments to their positions in Alphabet, reflecting a changing landscape among stakeholders.
• Alphabet's stock is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $222.33, alongside strong quarterly earnings that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 95,322 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,472 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $222.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents 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 link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $235.00 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $235.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $195.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.35. The company has a market cap of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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