Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Acquired by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,894 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of Empirical Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,588,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $311.43 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $321.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.81. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet 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.