Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 100,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,991 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after buying an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Alphabet by 182.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $197.07 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $188.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.13. The firm has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.55 and a 1 year high of $203.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,887 shares of company stock valued at $22,470,464 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.