Stratos Investment Management LLC Has $22.31 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stratos Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 144,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,189 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Community Bank N.A. grew its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 215,443 shares of company stock worth $36,298,548. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.61.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $170.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.