Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 2,729,364 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC boosted its Alphabet stake by 14.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 2.73 million additional shares and bringing its total holding to 21.85 million shares valued at about $6.84 billion.
• Other major institutional investors, including Vanguard and State Street, also increased their Alphabet holdings, and institutions/hedge funds now own about 40.03% of the company.
• Analysts remain bullish on Alphabet after strong quarterly results and rising AI-related optimism, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $411.23.

Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,851,279 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,729,364 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.1% of Jennison Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.18% of Alphabet worth $6,839,450,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 15.7% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp raised their target price on Alphabet from $385.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Argus raised their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $411.23.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google and Blackstone reportedly plan to launch a new AI cloud company, a move that could expand demand for Alphabet’s specialized chips and deepen its presence in enterprise AI infrastructure. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is heading into Google I/O with expectations for major AI announcements, and analysts are watching for updates on Gemini, agentic commerce, and in-house TPU chips that could strengthen its competitive position. Google I/O primer: Alphabet's AI showcase is its chance to wow Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Arete Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405 and kept a buy rating, signaling continued upside confidence from analysts. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple articles highlighted Alphabet’s strong momentum this year, with AI demand, cloud growth, and Berkshire Hathaway’s much larger stake helping validate the bullish case. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider-share sales by a major shareholder, but the transactions appear routine and were reported through standard SEC filings. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faces ongoing headline risk from its YouTube youth-safety settlement and broader scrutiny around AI and platform responsibility, though these issues look secondary to the company’s current AI-driven optimism. Alphabet’s $5 Trillion Milestone: How AI Ambitions Are Fueling Google’s Record Run

Alphabet Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $396.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock's 50-day moving average is $331.22 and its 200-day moving average is $318.52. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 257,931 shares of company stock valued at $36,886,538 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.

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