Stratos Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,083 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,845 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.3% of Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.7% in the 3rd quarter. BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 1,763 shares during the last quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cove Private Wealth LLC now owns 44,624 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,848,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Wealthstream Advisors Inc. now owns 13,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,187,000 after purchasing an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. Opinicus Capital Inc. now owns 6,120 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,488,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 131.7% in the third quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC now owns 18,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,512,000 after buying an additional 10,548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $310.90 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.05. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets provide near-term support — Loop Capital raised its price target to $355 and Wells Fargo moved to a more constructive stance, boosting buy-side momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo commercialization expands — Waymo is rolling out robotaxi service to multiple new U.S. markets (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando), which supports a pathway to revenue growth for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Big data-center energy deals lower operational risk for AI/cloud buildout — Google announced a 1.9GW clean-power-backed Minnesota project that includes a 300MW / 100-hour battery, and utilities/energy firms signed long-term supply deals for new Google sites, improving power resiliency for Cloud/AI capacity. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Hidden assets and ecosystem stakes add optionality — Alphabet’s strategic holdings (notably ~14% of Anthropic and an early SpaceX stake) plus Gemini integrations (including reported Apple interest) are underappreciated upside drivers for Cloud, AI licensing and potential mark-to-market gains. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry capex race: Bridgewater sees ~$650B in Big Tech AI investment for 2026 — this underscores continued capacity expansion that benefits hyperscalers but increases execution/timing uncertainty. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI chip competition heats up — WSJ coverage highlights intensifying GPU/custom-chip rivalry (Google vs. Nvidia and others), a structural trend that affects margins, procurement and product differentiation. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Notable investor rotations and selling — reports show Renaissance trimmed a large position (~$700M sale) and some high-profile funds reduced exposure, which can weigh on intraday flows and dampen momentum. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and regulatory risks persist — Klarna expects a Swedish court verdict related to Google patents on April 15, adding event risk for the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI capex funded with debt raises investor caution — coverage warns hyperscalers (including Alphabet) are increasing AI-related spending and in some cases using debt, which shifts risk and could pressure valuations if returns take longer than expected. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. China Renaissance lifted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.57.

About Alphabet

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.