Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Short Interest Update

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 65,560,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the December 15th total of 70,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 27,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $196.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,621,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,516,745.58. The trade was a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

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.