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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) saw a large 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 trading volume of 17,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $172.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $128.11 and a 1 year high of $193.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $163.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 230,244 shares of company stock worth $37,776,954 in the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.