Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is First Merchants Corp’s 7th Largest Position

First Merchants Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 186,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,318 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.1% of First Merchants Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 5 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,754 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,878,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.1% in the first quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 296 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,115,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weik Capital Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Weik Capital Management now owns 1,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,264,000 after buying an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.14, for a total transaction of $3,198,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,400,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $341,163,148.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.14, for a total transaction of $3,198,150.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,400,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $341,163,148.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 250,539 shares of company stock worth $35,906,259. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $102.63 and a 52 week high of $160.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.80.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $155.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $153.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.61.

About Alphabet

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.