Meritage Portfolio Management Acquires 286 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 2,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Manchester Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Park Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 22,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded up $14.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.85. 45,431,456 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,496,963. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $148.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $104.42 and a 52 week high of $176.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares in the company, valued at $362,516,961.51. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

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.