Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,001 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,873 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 111.8% during the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $26,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth $32,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 three months, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $177.66. The stock had a trading volume of 31,251,906 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,341,583. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Lake Street Capital reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $207.63.

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.