Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 38,030,000 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the September 30th total of 36,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 17,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total transaction of $3,652,875.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.03, for a total value of $130,424.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,024 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,812.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 19.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,815,986,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $1,378,708,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,355,724,000 after acquiring an additional 7,470,042 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 65.9% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,349,000 after buying an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 51.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,416,150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $976,923,000 after purchasing an additional 2,190,795 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $172.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $163.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.43. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $128.11 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.