DA Davidson Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective raised by equities research analysts at DA Davidson from $300.00 to $310.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the information services provider’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 3.98% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Loop Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, President Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $322.86 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.17. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.4% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines 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

About Alphabet

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.