Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Sold by Stratos Investment Management LLC

Stratos Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 125,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 37,936 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 81,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,484,000 after buying an additional 7,247 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 37,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 801 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, First PREMIER Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $185.23 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $192.64 and a 200-day moving average of $175.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.