Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 170,449 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 19,016 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management raised its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $86,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $59,827,000 after purchasing an additional 15,280 shares during the period. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $106,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $184.73 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $366.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.65. The company has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $383.44.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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