Meridian Wealth Management LLC Purchases 4,332 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 157,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,332 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oakworth Capital Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 27,289 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,258,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,736,841,000 after acquiring an additional 758,195 shares in the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 13,338 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,243,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,810 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northcape Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,512 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,307 shares in the company, valued at $6,224,380. The trade was a 0.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,064,308 shares of company stock valued at $104,383,469. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $361.64.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next?gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long?dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed?income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century?bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100?year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long?dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short?interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short?interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms?race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free?cash?flow strain and near?term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short?term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega?cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high?multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $305.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $275.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

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.