Investors Purchase Large Volume of Alphabet Call Options (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Options Trading Activity: Alphabet saw a significant increase in call options trading, with 286,617 call options purchased, representing a 24% rise from the average daily volume.
• Recent Earnings Performance: The company reported earnings of $2.31 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and increasing revenue by 13.8% year-over-year to $96.43 billion.
• Dividend Declaration: Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, set to be paid on September 15th, providing a yield of 0.4%.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 286,617 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseof24% compared to the average daily volume of 230,454 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were 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 directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $489,572,657.16. This represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,027,000. Finally, Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 85,996 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,377,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Lake Street Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $203.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,558,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,059,596. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $183.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.55. Alphabet has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors 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 is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio 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.