Renaissance Investment Group LLC Has $3.46 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Renaissance Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,604 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,455,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $26,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $235.00 target price (up previously from $220.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $193.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $177.37 and its 200-day moving average is $174.38. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.