Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $16.07 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Empower Advisory Group LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,196 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 514 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price objective (up from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Arete upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.93. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 225,072 shares of company stock valued at $58,074,027 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% 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.