Sage Investment Advisers LLC Makes New $1.03 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sage Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,301 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Sage Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. CTC LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 540.0% in the fourth quarter. CTC LLC now owns 340,685 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,013,000 after acquiring an additional 287,449 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 7,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 11,918 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after buying an additional 983 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $989,000 after buying an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,058,842,000 after acquiring an additional 481,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Raymond James upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna increased their target price 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. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $3.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $172.98. The company had a trading volume of 21,087,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,735,842. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $105.79 and a 12-month high of $176.42. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $144.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.