Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Trimmed by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,405,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 739,995 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.4% of Jennison Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 0.19% of Alphabet worth $3,269,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rainey & Randall Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Rainey & Randall Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,513 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,703 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $936,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $1,328,000. Prism Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Prism Advisors Inc. now owns 2,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC now owns 4,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.71 and a one year high of $174.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock worth $36,711,144. Company insiders own 0.88% 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.