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

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% during the 1st quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.40 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $175.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,067,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,220,776. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.29. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.