Alphabet Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 279,082 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 131% compared to the typical daily volume of 120,925 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,182,385 shares in the company, valued at $354,310,204.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total value of $109,420.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 219,744 shares of company stock valued at $35,878,764 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% during the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $172.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $123.93 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $163.71 and a 200-day moving average of $170.32. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 currently 12.27%.

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.