Stratos Investment Management LLC Buys 1,476 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,412 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,476 shares during the quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.38.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $175.16. 24,067,986 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,220,735. The company's 50 day moving average price is $170.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. 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 yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 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.