Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Lifted by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 341,065 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 55,008 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $60,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% in the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the last quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elgethun Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Elgethun Capital Management now owns 8,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after purchasing an additional 390 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 Alphabet stock opened at $320.02 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $269.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $219.18. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $328.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total value of $9,640,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,642,180.16. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock valued at $58,074,027. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Daiwa Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price target (up previously from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $307.84.

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.