Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,569,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,252,790 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.0% of Jennison Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.15% of Alphabet worth $2,616,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Alphabet by 93.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,950 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $159.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.27 and a 1-year high of $161.70. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.