Mechanics Bank Trust Department Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,245 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after buying an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $199.63 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $203.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.