Empirical Finance LLC Has $33.15 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 186,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,117 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. REDW Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. REDW Wealth LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. ACT Advisors LLC. now owns 1,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. LongView Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 5,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kooman & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $284.96 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $294.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $259.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $211.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.80, for a total transaction of $32,681.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,253,567.20. This trade represents a 0.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 189,896 shares of company stock worth $47,653,637. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $324.81.

Alphabet Company 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.