Empirical Asset Management LLC Sells 3,875 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Empirical Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 21.7% in the second quarter, selling 3,875 shares and now holding a value of $2,473,000.
• Despite Empirical's sell-off, several other institutional investors have raised their positions in Alphabet during the same period, including IFS Advisors who increased their stake by 400%.
• Wall Street analysts are bullish on Alphabet, with Morgan Stanley increasing their target price from $210.00 to $270.00, and an overall consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Empirical Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 21.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,942 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,875 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of Empirical Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,473,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Fairman Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $244.68.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 953 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total transaction of $229,863.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,294 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,171,312.80. This represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,372 shares of company stock worth $55,110,740 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $253.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's fifty day moving average is $232.18 and its 200 day moving average is $193.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $257.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

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