Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,818,272 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,651,676 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.12% of Alphabet worth $2,611,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 33,403,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,034,992,000 after buying an additional 3,537,173 shares during the period. Finally, Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 178.3% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 4,003,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $619,163,000 after buying an additional 2,565,400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 222,396 shares of company stock worth $54,105,275. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $278.83 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $204.90. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $291.59. The stock has a market cap of $3.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be 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 of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.10.

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.