Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 1,220 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,220 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $156.06 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $181.53 and a 200-day moving average of $178.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.