Stratos Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,250 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,189 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of Stratos Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 215,843 shares of company stock valued at $37,288,490. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on Alphabet from $171.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.68.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $1.80 on Friday, reaching $185.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,198,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,049,617. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $172.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.