Citigroup Increases Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $390.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective raised by Citigroup from $350.00 to $390.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 20.80% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.46.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.5%

Alphabet stock opened at $322.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $321.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.01.

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,224,380. This represents a 0.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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

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.