Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,386,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.6% of Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 59.2% in the first quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at $5,623,355.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total value of $125,126.54. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,065 shares of company stock worth $22,841,690. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $172.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.17. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $120.21 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.