Townsend & Associates Inc Sells 120 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Townsend & Associates Inc reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 587.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The trade was a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $164.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $167.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.