Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Lifted by Sage Advisors LLC

Sage Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,868 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.2% of Sage Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Sage Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanlon Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $203.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $168.70 and a 200-day moving average of $173.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.