Stratos Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Stratos Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 25,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Alphabet by 5.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 21,345,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,334,852,000 after buying an additional 1,098,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,380,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,979,000 after purchasing an additional 440,526 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $253.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $257.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $232.18 and a 200 day moving average of $193.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. This trade represents a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total value of $25,042.39. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 243,372 shares of company stock valued at $55,110,740 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $245.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.68.

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.