Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,872 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.0% of Empirical Finance LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,661,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $193.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.