Highland Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Highland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,001 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.95.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.