Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 1,513 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 35.0%, owning a total of 5,837 shares valued at approximately $1,029,000.
• Brokerages are optimistic about Alphabet's outlook, with several firms raising their price targets, the highest being $290.00 from JMP Securities.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.3% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 35.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,837 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,513 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its position in shares of 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. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,637,000 after purchasing an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $201.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JMP Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.10.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $244.90 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $256.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.08, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $219.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. The trade was a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 243,285 shares of company stock worth $50,994,787. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company 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.

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