Jennison Associates LLC Has $2.58 Billion Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.6% of Jennison Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.13% of Alphabet worth $2,578,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. M&G PLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 63,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,624,000 after buying an additional 5,892 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 11,366 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,097,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $179.58 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $168.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $171.87. The company has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at $339,160,251.80. This trade represents a 1.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The trade was a 2.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

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.