Great Lakes Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9% to a total of $122.28 million, making it the fund's 19th largest position.
• Several large institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Amundi, also increased their stakes in Alphabet during the first quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Alphabet has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, with an ex-dividend date on September 8th, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.4%.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 789,625 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,869 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Great Lakes Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $122,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 307.6% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $5.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $239.63. 37,672,216 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,417,184. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $240.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $198.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.17. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th 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 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This trade represents a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $270.00 target price (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.44.

Alphabet 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.