Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 540,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,375 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $102,855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,208,000. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 11,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 35,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,901,000 after buying an additional 542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.21 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.