Merriman Wealth Management LLC Has $598,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) by 2,249.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,249 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,983 shares during the quarter. Merriman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,304,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,817,723,000 after purchasing an additional 331,945 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,884.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 17,922,978 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,714,333,000 after purchasing an additional 17,019,726 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,957.3% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 17,857,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,783,000 after purchasing an additional 16,989,271 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,830.2% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 16,487,668 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,605,074,000 after purchasing an additional 15,633,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Alphabet by 1,927.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,284,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $792,433,000 after buying an additional 7,875,993 shares in the last quarter. 34.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.15, for a total value of $77,933.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,870.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Ann Mather sold 280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.23, for a total value of $28,904.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,156,176. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.15, for a total transaction of $77,933.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,289,870.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 1,461,702 shares of company stock valued at $36,999,217 and sold 190,744 shares valued at $8,564,640. Company insiders own 11.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities decreased their target price on Alphabet from $145.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Alphabet from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 26th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Alphabet from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, New Street Research began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $118.00 price target for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $93.05 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.47 and a current ratio of 2.52. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $83.34 and a 52 week high of $151.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 25th. The information services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by ($0.19). Alphabet had a return on equity of 26.41% and a net margin of 23.75%. The business had revenue of $57.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 4.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Profile

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Alphabet Inc provides 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 offers products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, hardware, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.