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

Stratos Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 123,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,474 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $321.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $306.41 and a 200 day moving average of $299.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock 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 twelve month low of $146.10 and a twelve month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,068,744 shares of company stock valued at $104,505,914 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. China Renaissance raised their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.76.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.