Comerica Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Comerica Bank cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,198,682 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,369 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.9% of Comerica Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $219,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares during the period. Finally, Vima LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 178,253.1% during the first quarter. Vima LLC now owns 2,001,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $304,691,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.29 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $164.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 203,367 shares of company stock worth $34,079,756. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.29.

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.