Meridian Management Co. Sells 11,494 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Meridian Management Co. reduced its Alphabet stake by 35.7% in the first quarter, selling 11,494 shares and leaving it with 20,743 shares worth about $5.95 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish on GOOG, with multiple analysts raising targets or reiterating buy ratings; the stock’s average rating is “Buy” and the average price target is $383.44.
• Alphabet posted strong recent results and continues to benefit from AI/cloud optimism, having beat quarterly earnings estimates with revenue up 21.8% year over year, while investors watch upcoming results for signs of further cloud and AI-driven growth.

Meridian Management Co. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 35.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,743 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 11,494 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of Meridian Management Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Meridian Management Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ring Mountain Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the first quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $380,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certior Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 919 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $383.44.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $184.73 and a 12-month high of $404.47. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $366.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.81 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.