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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 279,082 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 131% compared to the average daily volume of 120,925 call options.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,264,112. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 220,426 shares of company stock valued at $35,993,340. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the first quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after buying an additional 8,201 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 93.6% during the first quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 3,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,628,176 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $439,405,000 after purchasing an additional 115,716 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $7.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $178.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 39,137,883 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,590,646. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $163.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $123.93 and a 1 year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.