Short Interest in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Decreases By 6.2%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 64,260,000 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the October 15th total of 68,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 24,420,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $166.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $127.90 and a 52-week high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. 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 $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 70.6% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 101,230 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,279,000 after purchasing an additional 41,880 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 31,171 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.3% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 187,840 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,351,000 after purchasing an additional 20,572 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.4% during the first quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,263,000 after purchasing an additional 7,507 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 113,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,074,000 after purchasing an additional 5,268 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.