Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $370.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price upped by Wedbush from $360.00 to $370.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday. New Street Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $322.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $321.60 and a 200-day moving average of $270.73. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. This represents a 0.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 21,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,163,524.48. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV increased its holdings in Alphabet by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV now owns 4,162 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 28,996 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,076,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 106,643 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,624 shares during the period. Delta Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Delta Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,513 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 113,905 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,652,000 after purchasing an additional 7,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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

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.