Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Moffett Nathanson Analyst Says

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target hoisted by Moffett Nathanson from $305.00 to $350.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Moffett Nathanson’s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.41% from the stock’s current price.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Thursday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $321.60 and its 200-day moving average is $270.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Moment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the second 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 last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

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.