Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading 1.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shot up 1.1% on Thursday after Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to an overweight rating. The stock traded as high as $330.54 and last traded at $326.01. 21,667,586 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 21,355,178 shares. The stock had previously closed at $322.43.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $316.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,706,357.25. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 227,965 shares of company stock worth $67,495,822. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second‑largest public company by market cap, reinforcing investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI momentum and signaling potential ETF/inflow support. Alphabet’s market-cap news
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and higher price targets are piling up (Cantor Fitzgerald, Canaccord and others), giving buy-side momentum and a clearer near‑term valuation anchor for bullish flows. Analyst price target update
• Positive Sentiment: Product-driven monetization: Google is rolling Gemini AI features into Gmail (summaries, drafting, answers for billions of users), supporting ad/search engagement and differentiation vs. OpenAI. This underpins revenue upside expectations. Gmail Gemini features
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory relief: reporting indicates EU’s digital-rule overhaul will avoid the strictest measures for big tech, reducing near‑term regulatory uncertainty for Google’s ad and platform businesses. EU digital rule overhaul
• Neutral Sentiment: Wiz acquisition pending: the EU will decide on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz cybersecurity buy by Feb. 10 — approval would remove a major deal overhang, but a rejection would be a setback. Outcome is binary. Wiz EU decision
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund rebalancing: Gradient Investments trimmed ~19% of its reported GOOG stake in the 12/31 13F; institutional churn can weigh on intraday flows but often reflects portfolio rebalancing rather than a negative view. Gradient Investments 13F update
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.4M) in a disclosed SEC transaction; while routine for executives, such sales can be interpreted by some investors as a mild negative signal. Insider sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/reputational note: Alphabet and Character.AI have settled suits tied to harms allegedly caused by AI chatbots — settlement reduces litigation uncertainty but highlights regulatory and reputational risk around AI safety. Lawsuit settlement

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IFS Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $305.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.33.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.