Comerica Bank Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Comerica Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,130,369 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 54,247 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Comerica Bank's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Comerica Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $215,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.02 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $165.81. The stock had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,174,655. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day moving average price is $162.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.