Mechanics Bank Trust Department Has $35.21 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Mechanics Bank Trust Department decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,420 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.6% of Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Cornerstone Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $233,000. Mirador Capital Partners LP grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 54,633 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,100,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 2,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Chris Bulman Inc raised its stake in Alphabet by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Chris Bulman Inc now owns 2,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 776,168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $242,941,000 after acquiring an additional 188,104 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $309.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $296.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google’s Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google’s TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google’s free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.