Mengis Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mengis Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 775 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.9% of Mengis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Mengis Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Equitec Proprietary Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $159.92 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $147.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.27. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.27 and a fifty-two week high of $161.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

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.