Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Invests $2.15 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 11,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,150,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.5% of Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.2% during the third quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 5,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 29,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,967,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,270 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,884,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $167.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $137.07 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $189.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.09.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.