Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 84,338 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,978 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Integrity Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Integrity Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 4,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 201,193 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,855,000 after acquiring an additional 16,175 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 20,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,013,000 after acquiring an additional 4,658 shares during the period. V2 Financial group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. V2 Financial group LLC now owns 8,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northland Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 35.0% in the 1st quarter. Northland Securities Inc. now owns 1,815 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 7.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $317.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $364.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 57.20%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet delivered a strong quarter, with revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, both well above expectations, while Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% year over year and YouTube ad revenue also grew solidly. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI demand is outpacing capacity, which helped justify higher investment plans, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said existing customers are spending about 50% more than they initially committed. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Gemini AI assistant now has more than 950 million monthly users, showing continued traction in its AI products and ecosystem. TechCrunch article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, a small but shareholder-friendly capital return move. MarketBeat reference
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed a large equity stake in SpaceX, highlighting the value of its investment portfolio, though this is not a direct operating catalyst for the core business. WSJ article
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are falling as investors react to a much higher 2026 capital spending outlook and Alphabet’s first-ever negative free cash flow, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending could pressure returns. Barron’s article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faces a new €890 million ($1 billion) EU antitrust fine over Search and Play Store practices, adding regulatory pressure. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms announced securities-fraud investigations tied to Alphabet’s disclosures, which can add overhang and keep sentiment fragile. Business Wire article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. New Street Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.