Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Sells 13,820 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. cut its Alphabet (GOOG) position by 6.5%, selling 13,820 shares and leaving 198,322 shares valued at about $62.23 million (0.7% of the firm's portfolio, its 25th-largest holding).
• Positive operational catalysts include expanded AI infrastructure deals with Intel and Broadcom/Anthropic and strong Google Cloud momentum (roughly ~50% growth and a reported $240B cloud backlog), supporting capacity and enterprise AI monetization.
• Insiders have been net sellers: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares recently, and insiders have sold about 2.07 million shares worth ~$104.7 million in the past 90 days, while insiders still own roughly 12.99% of the company.

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 198,322 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 13,820 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.7% of Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $62,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 145.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 56.8% in the third quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Expanded AI infrastructure partnerships — Google deepened multi-year deals with Intel (and broader TPU/partner deals with Broadcom/Anthropic), locking in multi‑generation chips and networking supply for its AI data centers, which supports Google Cloud capacity, cost control and enterprise AI revenue. Google and Intel deepen AI infrastructure partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom/Broad AI supply visibility — reports show renewed long‑term TPU/networking agreements tying Broadcom to Google and Anthropic, reinforcing Alphabet’s access to custom AI compute and signaling durable infrastructure demand. Broadcom Locks in Multi-Year AI Wins With Google and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud momentum — multiple writeups highlight ~50% cloud growth, a $240B cloud backlog and stronger monetization via Gemini/TPUs, underscoring a durable, high‑margin growth engine for Alphabet. Forget Google Search: This Business Is Alphabet's Real Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Product and commercialization wins — new privacy/cookie protection features and consumer AI rollouts (Google Finance overhaul, Waymo geographic expansion, Wing drone moves) keep multiple monetization levers active for ads, cloud and emerging businesses. Google Stock (GOOGL) Is Soaring. It’s Taking Cookies Seriously Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity is mixed — some firms (e.g., William O’Neil) reinstated Buy coverage highlighting long‑term optionality (Waymo, AI), while other market notes simply group GOOGL among Magnificent Seven buy opportunities tied to broader rotation. William O’Neil Reinstates Alphabet With a Buy
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margin concerns — some analysts rate Alphabet as a Hold, arguing the stock already prices near‑perfect execution (forward PEG elevated vs. peers) and noting near‑term margin compression risks despite strong fundamentals. Alphabet Stock Defies AI's Gravity
• Negative Sentiment: Portfolio rebalancing / sales — reports of funds trimming or selling (e.g., TCW fund) over valuation criteria show pockets of supply that could pressure near‑term trading despite the positive newsflow. TCW Fund Sold Alphabet After Meeting Valuation Characteristics

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $345.71.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $316.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The stock's 50-day moving average is $306.78 and its 200-day moving average is $298.16. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $148.40 and a one year high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for 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%.Alphabet's revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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