Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,053,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,114 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $193,171,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,963,128,000 after acquiring an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after acquiring an additional 684,968 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,024,679,000 after acquiring an additional 813,428 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 202,667 shares of company stock valued at $33,964,256 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $160.81 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $167.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. 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.