Sargent Investment Group LLC Buys 2,073 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sargent Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,073 shares during the quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Concentrum Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 17,328 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Kidder Stephen W grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Kidder Stephen W now owns 3,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Hill Island Financial LLC now owns 7,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Providence Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,102 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $185.94 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.61. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. 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 is 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.