Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 6.1%, owning 118,070 shares valued at approximately $20.94 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Insiders, including CEO Sundar Pichai, have recently sold significant amounts of stock, with Pichai selling 32,500 shares for over $8 million, which reflects a 1.34% decrease in his ownership.
• Alphabet's recent earnings report showed an EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, and the company declared a quarterly $0.21 dividend, yielding 0.3% annually.

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,070 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,807 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Triton Wealth Management PLLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $1,039,000. RMR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.3% in the second quarter. RMR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,700 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,011,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.2% in the second quarter. Cypress Wealth Services LLC now owns 20,497 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innova Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% in the second quarter. Innova Wealth Partners now owns 1,789 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at $598,149,304. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,372 shares of company stock valued at $55,110,740 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $253.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $232.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $257.58. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group set a $255.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $244.68.

Alphabet Company 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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