Meridian Management Co. Sells 10,899 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meridian Management Co. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 26.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,899 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Meridian Management Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,562,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vima LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 178,253.1% in the 1st quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock worth $34,218,581. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $158.37 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $169.06 and a 200 day moving average of $166.35. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $121.46 and a 52 week high of $193.31. The company has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio 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.