Alphabet Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 418,430 call options on the company. This is an increase of 73% compared to the typical volume of 241,892 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5 %

GOOGL stock traded up $0.86 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $175.37. The company had a trading volume of 25,389,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,089,088. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $129.68 and a 52 week high of $191.75. The business has a 50 day moving average of $169.70 and a 200 day moving average of $170.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 160,789 shares of company stock valued at $27,374,143. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $53,000. 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.