Empowered Funds LLC Has $43.60 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,865 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,029 shares of company stock worth $12,625,003. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $183.77 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $193.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.