Sage Investment Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 7,301 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 7,301 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of Sage Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 198.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Alphabet by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,064,000 after buying an additional 2,222,950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.15 on Tuesday, hitting $172.98. The stock had a trading volume of 21,087,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,735,842. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $152.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.21. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $105.79 and a one year high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

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.