Empower Advisory Group LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 97,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,165 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. This represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,673,866 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $169.12 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.