Renaissance Investment Group LLC Sells 320 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Renaissance Investment Group LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 92,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 320 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.5% of Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,263,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Enzi Wealth increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the first quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,086,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the first quarter. Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 3,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Florida Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,311 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,523,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 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 $2,786,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,588 shares of company stock worth $44,296,554. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.85.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $251.16 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $253.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $204.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.65. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 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) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 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.