Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Buys 6,964 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,964 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,918,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

GOOGL stock opened at $173.32 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $164.17 and its 200-day moving average is $174.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,844,050. This represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.