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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 50,030,000 shares, an increase of 20.1% from the November 30th total of 41,660,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 18,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $355,743,153.42. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,342,143.80. This trade represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 161,455 shares of company stock worth $28,462,960. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

GOOG traded down $3.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $194.04. 14,679,327 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,758,303. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.51. Alphabet has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.