Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,856,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,995,269 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.9% of Jennison Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,709,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $333.71 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $360.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.82 and a twelve month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.79 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Freedom Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 285,049 shares of company stock worth $10,051,351 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter results showed $119.80 billion in revenue and $112.19 billion in net income, while Google Cloud growth and early AI monetization helped reinforce the long-term investment case. Several analysts remain bullish; Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to “strong buy,” and KeyCorp raised its fiscal 2028 EPS estimate to $17.88 while maintaining an “Overweight” rating and a $445 price target. Alphabet Q2 earnings analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to attract support from value investors and dip buyers, with reports indicating that prominent investors increased their positions. The company also secured a multiyear agreement to bring Peacock content to YouTube Premium subscribers, potentially strengthening YouTube’s subscription and content ecosystem. Investors increase Alphabet positions
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader technology market is volatile ahead of major Big Tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision. That macro uncertainty may be contributing to sharp moves in Alphabet despite its strong fundamentals. Wall Street rebounds ahead of FOMC
• Negative Sentiment: The primary overhang is Alphabet’s plan to spend roughly $195 billion to $205 billion on 2026 capital expenditures, largely for AI infrastructure. Investors are questioning whether the spending will generate adequate returns after Alphabet reportedly posted negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company and paused buybacks under its prior program. A proposed $69.24 billion Class C stock shelf could also raise dilution concerns. Alphabet AI spending and cash concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces additional legal and regulatory risk. European rivals are lining up potential private damages claims after Google lost an initial case under new EU competition rules, while Waymo faces possible federal requirements concerning emergency-response procedures. Major-shareholder sales disclosed in recent SEC filings are a smaller, but potentially negative, sentiment signal. Google faces potential European damages claims

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.