Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 631,804 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 73% compared to the typical daily volume of 365,513 call options.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8 %

GOOGL stock traded up $2.82 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $162.10. 45,897,220 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,513,565. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $162.61 and a 200-day moving average of $175.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.03.

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.

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