Ritholtz Wealth Management Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 129,820 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,024 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.6% of Ritholtz Wealth Management's portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

GOOGL traded up $2.10 on Monday, hitting $176.77. The company had a trading volume of 27,324,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,428,139. The company's fifty day moving average price is $162.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.68. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.96, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.