Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $339.28 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,029,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,667 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.1% of Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $339,279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,624,000 after purchasing an additional 5,892 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 162,384 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,149,000 after purchasing an additional 8,304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $183.32 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $129.40 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $165.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.44.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total transaction of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.41, for a total value of $1,862,805.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 319,966 shares in the company, valued at $56,765,168.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 241,752 shares of company stock worth $40,156,829. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.