Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131,844 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,540 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.7% of Ritholtz Wealth Management's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $196.00. 27,621,897 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The company's 50 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 current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.
In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Bank of America restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.15.
Read Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
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.
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