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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 36,070,000 shares, a drop of 16.0% from the September 15th total of 42,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,910,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.75, for a total transaction of $123,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 28,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,385,565. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 216,092 shares of company stock worth $35,644,136 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. GenWealth Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 12.4% during the third quarter. GenWealth Group Inc. now owns 1,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.4% during the third quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,072,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,544,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,177,000 after purchasing an additional 92,556 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,585 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,773,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 113.3% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 16,202 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 8,607 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $186.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $166.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,971,623 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,743,830. The company’s 50-day moving average is $162.81 and its 200-day moving average is $169.37. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $121.46 and a 52-week high of $193.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

About Alphabet

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.