FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Purchases 2,990 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,990 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 85.7% during the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,171,312.80. The trade was a 5.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

GOOGL opened at $245.35 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $221.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

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.