Towneley Capital Management Inc DE Invests $210,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Towneley Capital Management Inc DE acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Reliant Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% in the first quarter. City State Bank now owns 17,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the first quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 13,168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 13,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $174.92 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $161.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.