Ridgewood Investments LLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 12.1% during Q2, now holding 29,579 shares valued at approximately $5.2 million.
• Alphabet's stock received several positive upgrades from analysts, including price target increases from Bank of America to $217 and BMO Capital Markets to $225, with a consensus target of $231.31.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, yielding 0.3%, with a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,579 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,191 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.3% of Ridgewood Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Ridgewood Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. ABLE Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.1% in the second quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 11,342 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% in the second quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,581 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.6% in the second quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 191,940 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $33,826,000 after acquiring an additional 13,589 shares in the last quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 23.2% in the second quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $958,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Narus Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,445 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,369,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $231.31.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $247.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $213.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $181.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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