Empower Advisory Group LLC Sells 3,285 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,285 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 33,183,489 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,281,879,000 after acquiring an additional 1,779,031 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $201.00 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.41, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $181.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

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.