Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 47.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 177,004 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 57,271 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.8% during the second quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 36,108 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,577,000 after acquiring an additional 8,511 shares during the last quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% in the second quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $947,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,183,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet stock traded up $2.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $198.00. 20,128,276 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,674,268. The firm has a market cap of $2.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $184.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.33. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $202.29.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.15.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet
Insider Activity
In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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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