Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Boosted by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,198 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,099,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after purchasing an additional 104,366 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $169.14 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.35 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $153.32 and its 200-day moving average is $143.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.60.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,355,191 shares in the company, valued at $336,980,728.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,329 shares of company stock worth $37,223,576 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.