Empowered Funds LLC Has $281.15 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its Alphabet stake by 85.1% in the first quarter, owning 977,711 shares valued at approximately $281.15 million. Alphabet now represents about 1.8% of the fund’s portfolio, while institutional investors collectively own 40.03% of the company.
• Alphabet reported quarterly EPS of $9.11, far exceeding the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion. Analysts remain bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet’s AI expansion is supporting investor optimism, including Gemini’s growth and new Google Cloud demand, but the company faces risks from heavy data-center spending, infrastructure constraints, regulatory disputes and more than 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits.

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 85.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 977,711 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 449,387 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Empowered Funds LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $281,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. HSBC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, China Renaissance lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $343.80 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $354.94 and its 200 day moving average is $340.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The company has a market cap of $4.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Gemini app surpassed 1 billion monthly active users, marking a major distribution milestone that could strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem, user engagement and monetization potential. Google's Gemini app surges to one billion users
• Positive Sentiment: Ryanair signed a five-year Google Cloud agreement to deploy Gemini and DeepMind models for crew scheduling and operational decisions, providing evidence of enterprise demand for Alphabet’s AI and cloud offerings. Ryanair signs five-year Google Cloud deal
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s increased AI investment continues to attract investor interest, with analysts highlighting the company’s momentum and potential beneficiaries of its planned data-center spending. However, the scale of investment remains a key debate. Alphabet's Higher AI Spending Could Boost These ETFs
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings influence on broader S&P 500 growth underscores its importance to market performance, but it also makes the stock more sensitive to shifts in technology-sector sentiment and portfolio positioning. Tech Stocks Have Stumbled
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet remains exposed to more than 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits alleging that social-media platforms were designed to harm young users. The litigation could create financial liability and increase regulatory pressure. Social media platforms still facing thousands of user addiction lawsuits
• Negative Sentiment: A French newspaper group asked regulators to investigate Google’s AI-generated search summaries, arguing they divert traffic from publishers. Similar disputes could raise compliance costs and threaten parts of Google’s search economics. French media asks French anti-trust watchdog to act on Google's AI
• Negative Sentiment: AI data centers face significant power and infrastructure constraints, adding execution risk to Alphabet’s large capital-spending plans and raising questions about returns on AI investment. AI's Next Bottleneck Isn't Chips, It's Power Infrastructure

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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