Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Short Interest Down 6.2% in October

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

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $175.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $127.90 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $166.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $170.28.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. This trade represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,144,172,000 after purchasing an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.