Townsquare Capital LLC Sells 2,392 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Townsquare Capital LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 0.5%, now owning 510,512 shares, with a total value of $78.9 million, making it the 21st largest holding in their portfolio.
• Vanguard Group Inc. significantly increased its ownership in Alphabet by 2.9%, owning over 509 million shares valued at nearly $78.8 billion, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Alphabet announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend, which will be paid on September 15, contributing to an annualized dividend yield of 0.4% and reflecting a modest payout ratio of 8.95%.

Townsquare Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 510,512 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,392 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.8% of Townsquare Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $78,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Westpark Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

GOOGL traded down $2.8650 on Tuesday, hitting $200.6350. The company had a trading volume of 7,280,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,364,340. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Alphabet Company 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.