Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Short Interest Down 7.6% in December

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of 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 daily volume of 27,510,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its holdings 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 worth $75,034,000 after acquiring an additional 353,949 shares in the last quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $3.09 during trading on Monday, reaching $196.00. The company had a trading volume of 27,621,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $184.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.25. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.