Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-one research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $357.46.

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. President Capital raised their price objective on Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target on the stock. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,163,524.48. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 Stock Down 2.5%

GOOGL stock opened at $322.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $321.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $271.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.