Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 1.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Monday after Wolfe Research raised their price target on the stock from $380.00 to $390.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $335.84 and last traded at $333.26. 25,166,059 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 31,299,029 shares. The stock had previously closed at $327.93.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Melius Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,163,524.48. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 222,409 shares of company stock valued at $68,564,532. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst actions and raised targets have lifted sentiment — RBC reaffirmed its “buy” rating, Needham kept a buy with a $330 target, Raymond James upgraded the stock, and at least one shop lifted its price target to $390, supporting higher valuations. MarketScreener: RBC remains its buy rating Alphabet Price Target Raised to $390
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile portfolio activity (the “Pelosi” filing) signaled continued conviction in large-cap tech/AI exposure via option-based leverage — a bullish sign that large investors are maintaining exposure to Alphabet while optimizing capital. Pelosi’s Bullish 2026 Buy List: AI, Power & Dividends
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s VC arm participated in a $200M funding round for AI video startup Synthesia, reinforcing the company’s continued strategic bets in the AI ecosystem and potential downstream product/partnership benefits for Google Cloud and AI services. Nvidia and Alphabet VC arms back Synthesia
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing Magnificent Seven coverage and bullish AI narratives continue to underpin market interest in large-cap AI leaders like Alphabet, but these are thematic tailwinds rather than company-specific catalysts. Seeking Alpha: Alphabet’s Big Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro and calendar risks (Fed decision, major tech earnings this week) are creating market-wide volatility that could affect GOOGL’s near-term moves independent of fundamentals. Nasdaq futures in the red ahead of big week
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to a preliminary $68M settlement in a class-action suit alleging its Assistant improperly recorded users — a modest but negative headline that adds legal/PR noise ahead of earnings (judge approval required). Google Agrees to Settle Class Action Lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold roughly $10–11M of Alphabet shares recently (reported ahead of the Feb. 4 earnings date). Insider sales can be interpreted as routine diversification but may create short-term concern among some investors. Sundar Pichai Offloads Alphabet Shares

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $448,684,000 after buying an additional 56,295 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $352,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $316.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.