Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 1,580 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 52.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M. Kraus & Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. M. Kraus & Co now owns 6,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.74.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares in the company, valued at $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total transaction of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 156,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,823,893. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $165.62 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $174.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

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.