Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 10,200 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.2%, buying 10,200 shares to hold 329,150 shares (about 1.2% of its portfolio) valued at roughly $103.0 million, making GOOGL its 10th-largest position.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares for about $9.88 million, and insiders have sold ~2,068,744 shares (~$104.5 million) in the past three months, leaving insiders with 11.64% ownership.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive with an average rating of Moderate Buy and a $366.76 average price target, supported by AI catalysts like Broadcom’s multi‑year TPU deal and other bullish analyst moves, though price targets remain mixed.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 329,150 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,200 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $103,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $416,217,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,277,000 after acquiring an additional 7,180 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% during the third quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,171,000 after acquiring an additional 8,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $405,131,000 after acquiring an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $366.76.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom extended a multi‑year agreement with Google to supply chips for TPUs through 2031, which UBS says eases investor concerns about Google's chip sourcing and supports near‑term AI infrastructure demand. Broadcom deal with Google signals stronger AI demand but long-term risks remain: UBS
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable AI deal coverage (Anthropic/TPU opportunity) and bullish commentary position Alphabet as an AI‑infrastructure play, reinforcing upside expectations for revenue from cloud and TPU sales. Catalyst Alert: Anthropic Deal Makes Alphabet Stock a Must-Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Large investor activity: Stanley Druckenmiller materially increased his Alphabet stake last quarter, a high‑profile buy that can lift sentiment among momentum and institutional investors. Stanley Druckenmiller Made 1 Huge Bet That Still Looks Attractive Today and Cut 2 Top Positions
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/strategy tailwinds: Google is funding nationwide AI training for manufacturing workers, supporting enterprise adoption of its AI stack and strengthening longer‑term demand for cloud/AI services. Google partners on AI training for thousands of American manufacturing workers
• Positive Sentiment: Market sentiment and upgrades: Zacks and other outlets highlight positive analyst momentum (Zacks Rank upgrade and positive writeups), which supports buying interest today. What Makes Alphabet (GOOGL) a New Buy Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: several firms reaffirm or trim targets (Citizens/JMP reaffirmed outperform at $385; Stifel trimmed its target slightly but stayed Buy; Wolfe cut to $360, while some outlets show higher targets), leaving a range of expectations for future upside. Stifel adjusts price target on Alphabet Price Target Raised to $420
• Neutral Sentiment: Startups and ecosystem activity (e.g., Primepoint's $10M seed round led by AI veterans) show continued AI ecosystem growth but have indirect impact on Alphabet's near‑term fundamentals. Primepoint closes $10M seed round
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term technology pivots (quantum computing coverage) are discussed as multi‑year catalysts; these are strategic positives but unlikely to move near‑term earnings. Quantum Computing Stocks: Is Google's Tech Roadmap Changing?
• Negative Sentiment: Ad‑revenue competition: eMarketer/WSJ reports project Meta overtaking Google as the top global digital‑ad revenue company by end‑2026, a key long‑term risk for Google’s core search/ad margin profile. Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,068,744 shares of company stock valued at $104,505,914. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $321.39 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $146.10 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $306.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $299.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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