Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Alphabet Inc. saw a spike in options trading activity, with traders acquiring 524,894 call options, a 19% increase compared to average volumes.
• The firm's stock traded up 2.3%, reaching $200.97, with a market capitalization of $2.43 trillion.
• Alphabet reported a quarterly EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates of $2.15, alongside a quarterly dividend announcement of $0.21 per share.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 524,894 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof19% compared to the average daily volume of 441,129 call options.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $4.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $201.42. 39,112,061 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,618,092. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day moving average is $180.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

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.