Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 26.7%, now owning 297,188 shares valued at approximately $45.96 million.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock, decreasing his ownership by 1.3% to 2.46 million shares.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an upcoming ex-dividend date set for September 8th.

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 26.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 297,188 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 62,548 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $45,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after purchasing an additional 104,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $1.27 on Friday, hitting $212.91. 39,702,089 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,893,466. 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 $214.65. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $190.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

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.