Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Short Interest Update

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 50,030,000 shares, an increase of 20.1% from the November 30th total of 41,660,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 18,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,183 shares in the company, valued at $4,927,257.72. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 161,455 shares of company stock worth $28,462,960. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 6,294,332 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,052,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500,621 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 27.8% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,499,245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,375,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,632,691 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $3.06 on Friday, hitting $194.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,679,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,758,303. 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 fifty day moving average price of $179.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.47. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $202.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.