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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 529,983 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average daily volume of 381,353 call options.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.76 during trading on Friday, hitting $166.72. The company had a trading volume of 16,883,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,962,796. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business's 50-day moving average is $158.17 and its 200 day moving average is $175.03. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,455,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in Alphabet by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 68,368 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,942,000 after purchasing an additional 5,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,736 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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.