Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Sold by Townsend & Associates Inc

Townsend & Associates Inc decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,256 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876,534 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after purchasing an additional 979,083 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after buying an additional 636,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total transaction of $130,424.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,894,812.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 242,552 shares of company stock valued at $40,287,253 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $179.86 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.