Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys 15,888 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,888 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.0% of Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $55,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harborfront Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% in the second quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. now owns 8,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,924,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 38.5% during the 2nd quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 180 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.5% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 720,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $257,425,000 after purchasing an additional 37,771 shares during the period. Finally, Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the second quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 52,357 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $18,711,000 after buying an additional 2,158 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Arete Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, President Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $339.35 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $349.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.01. The company has a market cap of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $206.20 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s valuation and growth outlook. Citizens analyst Andrew Boone expects the stock to reach a new record high over the next 12 months, while other commentary highlights strong cloud momentum and argues that market concerns about Alphabet may be excessive. Wall Street analyst sets Google price target One Mag 7 Stock to Watch
• Positive Sentiment: Google- and Meta-backed Jio Platforms received approval for an Indian IPO. The listing could provide Alphabet with a potential valuation catalyst for its investment and increase visibility into the value of the stake. Jio Platforms IPO approval
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is balancing record cloud growth against historically high AI-related capital spending. Investors are focused on whether rising infrastructure costs will generate sufficient future revenue and margins compared with Amazon’s spending strategy. Alphabet and Amazon AI capital spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares for approximately $27,692, reducing her direct holdings by 0.43%. The relatively small transaction is unlikely to materially change the investment case, but it may attract limited attention amid the stock’s recent volatility. Alphabet insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh scrutiny of Google’s £260 million U.K. app-store settlement added to regulatory pressure. Reports also say Google changed European search rules to avoid a potentially much larger EU revenue penalty, though the concessions could weaken its search economics and competitive position. Google U.K. app-store settlement Google European search rules
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to debate whether Meta’s AI products could challenge Google Search and whether Alphabet’s AI investment will pressure returns before producing meaningful new revenue. Concerns about talent departures and the uncertain reception for future Gemini releases are also weighing on sentiment. Meta AI competition with Google Search

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.