Ridgewood Investments LLC Has $2.52 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ridgewood Investments LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 259 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Ridgewood Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the second quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 527,604 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $96,773,000 after acquiring an additional 71,452 shares during the period. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the second quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 7,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the second quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 161,049 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,540,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Roof Eidam Maycock Peralta LLC now owns 26,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 139.8% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 202,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,425,000 after acquiring an additional 118,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $1.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $193.50. The stock had a trading volume of 6,977,692 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,637,823. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.