Short Interest in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Grows By 5.6%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 69,350,000 shares, a growth of 5.6% from the July 31st total of 65,680,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 24,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.17.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $157.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 134,065 shares of company stock valued at $22,841,690. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 7,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% during the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the first quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 6,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,000,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunflower Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the second quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 6,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.