RNC Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

RNC Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,687 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,570 shares during the period. RNC Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 42.8% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,511 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after buying an additional 1,953 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 4,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 275,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,989,000 after acquiring an additional 8,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thomasville National Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 298,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,866,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $188.20 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $193.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.30 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.