Investors Buy High Volume of Alphabet Call Options (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 438,220 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 79% compared to the average daily volume of 244,703 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. This represents a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 184,295 shares of company stock worth $30,698,791 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Hampshire Trust lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.7% during the third quarter. EWG Elevate Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 5.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $9.97 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $166.01. 42,321,379 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,129,285. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $167.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.40. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $127.90 and a 1 year high of $191.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 firm 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 company earned $1.55 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 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.