Ridgewood Investments LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 25,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after buying an additional 18,700,111 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after purchasing an additional 9,135,056 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,662,809 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,811 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $207.08.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $1.63 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $192.32. 12,370,503 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,937,000. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during 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 in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.