Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 206,390 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,468 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.9% of Empirical Finance LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, S&T Bank PA raised its stake in Alphabet by 40.2% during the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,072 shares of company stock worth $58,074,027. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $320.02 on Monday. The firm 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $269.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $219.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $306.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Four investment 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 MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

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.