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

Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.6% of Jennison Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.13% of Alphabet worth $2,578,793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. M&G PLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during 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 period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. This trade represents a 35.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 184,295 shares of company stock valued at $30,698,791 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $3.21 on Wednesday, reaching $176.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,149,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,507,973. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business's 50-day moving average price is $168.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $129.40 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

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.