Alphabet Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 207,956 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the average volume of 150,762 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $180.26 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $171.61 and a 200-day moving average of $153.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $115.83 and a 12-month high of $182.51. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total value of $1,826,979.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at $7,365,523.23. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,325,513 shares in the company, valued at $362,012,608.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 12,084 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.19, for a total transaction of $1,826,979.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 48,717 shares in the company, valued at $7,365,523.23. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 135,958 shares of company stock worth $22,383,553. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $11,600,970,000. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.