Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s 7th Largest Position

Rench Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 55,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,648 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.6% of Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Rench Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $161.47 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $169.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.71.

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.