Ritholtz Wealth Management Purchases 8,540 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 131,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,540 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Ritholtz Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Denver PWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $184.43 and its 200-day moving average is $173.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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.