Jennison Associates LLC Sells 1,252,790 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,569,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,252,790 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.0% of Jennison Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,616,987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016 now owns 2,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Financial Inc. now owns 2,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Park Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 22,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $159.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $159.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.27 and a twelve month high of $161.70. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $147.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The company 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 firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares in the company, valued at $1,275,043.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total value of $3,541,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,303,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $362,516,961.51. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock worth $36,377,482 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.