Sanders Morris Harris LLC Buys 2,953 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sanders Morris Harris LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 60.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,953 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Coast Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. West Coast Financial LLC now owns 137,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,953,000 after buying an additional 1,811 shares during the period. Guardian Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 89,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,927,000 after acquiring an additional 10,234 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 7,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,330,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $196.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $184.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at $369,672,512.16. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

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.