Sanders Morris Harris LLC Purchases 63,143 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 806.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,971 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 63,143 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.7% of Sanders Morris Harris LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Sanders Morris Harris LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,267,743 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,742,444,000 after purchasing an additional 86,670 shares during the last quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 723 shares during the period. Bowman & Co S.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the first quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. now owns 14,024 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,170,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Allied Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the first quarter. Allied Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,701 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $572,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.0% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 195,965 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,304,000 after acquiring an additional 20,993 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 163,270 shares of company stock worth $26,553,563. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $167.24. The company had a trading volume of 14,289,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,996,075. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.78, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $159.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.