Investors Buy High Volume of Alphabet Call Options (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 418,430 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 73% compared to the typical volume of 241,892 call options.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.6 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $185.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $129.68 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,280,514.53. This represents a 27.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 197,923 shares of company stock valued at $34,244,676 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the second quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Cutler Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.03.

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.