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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 39,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This represents a 35.31 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at $5,136,807.48. This trade represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $630,000. Unigestion Holding SA grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 550.1% in the 3rd quarter. Unigestion Holding SA now owns 92,199 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,291,000 after acquiring an additional 78,017 shares in the last quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,897 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,280,000 after acquiring an additional 8,851 shares in the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 86,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,285,000 after purchasing an additional 13,642 shares during the period. Finally, Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 93.3% during the 3rd quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 17,080 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,833,000 after purchasing an additional 8,242 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $178.12 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $127.90 and a fifty-two week high of $191.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $166.74 and a two-hundred 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 firm has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.