Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $375.00 to $400.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 23.89% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Citic Securities increased their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore lifted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.17. 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 one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

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.