Ritholtz Wealth Management Sells 12,601 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 12,601 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of Ritholtz Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $841,725,000 after purchasing an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 143.7% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,072,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,288,201,000 after purchasing an additional 4,170,229 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.8 %

GOOGL stock opened at $157.46 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The business’s 50-day moving average is $167.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total value of $278,775.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares in the company, valued at $5,728,640.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.76.

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.