Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Short Interest Update

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 65,680,000 shares, a decrease of 8.2% from the July 15th total of 71,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 24,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.74.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.86, for a total value of $118,572.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,209,888.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.58, for a total transaction of $3,973,050.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,235,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,746,532.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,365 shares of company stock worth $22,936,043. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its stake in Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $3.71 on Monday, reaching $166.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,596,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,173,227. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $162.51. The firm has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.62 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, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.