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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the target of 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 daily trading volume, of 18,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $3.06 on Friday, hitting $194.04. 14,679,327 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,758,303. The company has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $179.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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 yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. The trade was a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total transaction of $3,759,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. The trade was a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 161,455 shares of company stock valued at $28,462,960. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.