Meridian Financial Partners LLC Buys 275 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,674 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $174.92 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $161.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.