Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the target of a large decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 65,560,000 shares, a decline of 7.6% from the December 15th total of 70,960,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 27,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $218,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 610.4% during the 2nd quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 411,936 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $75,034,000 after acquiring an additional 353,949 shares during the period. Defined Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,712 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $3.09 on Friday, hitting $196.00. 27,621,897 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $184.43 and its 200 day moving average is $173.34. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.