Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 184,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,214 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 48,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,392 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,413,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares in the last quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 9,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,618,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Finally, Dearborn Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 10,628 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,777,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. The trade was a 3.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,471,141 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $176.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $166.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.