Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the forty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-eight have issued a buy recommendation and seven have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $343.90.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock worth $105,985,041. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,841,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,543,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,013 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $306.02 on Friday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $275.59.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s results and AI traction remain strong: Cloud revenue and enterprise backlog are accelerating and Gemini user metrics/support drive upside to long‑term monetization. Zacks: The Zacks Analyst Alphabet…
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment of next‑gen robotaxis signals commercial progress for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, a longer‑term growth catalyst. CNBC: Waymo begins deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Some large asset managers are net buying while others trimmed positions — BNP Paribas added a multi‑million share position in GOOG, offsetting other institutional reductions. QuiverQuant: BNP Paribas fund update
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures in recent feeds show zero shares (likely a data anomaly), so shorting activity is not a clear driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet completed a very large multi‑currency debt offering (including long‑dated tranches/century bond reports), which has spooked some investors worried about aggressive debt‑funded CapEx and the lack of customary bond protections. Reuters: Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails…
• Negative Sentiment: Management guided 2026 CapEx sharply higher (~$175–$185B), and the market has treated that as a near‑term cash‑flow/headwind risk despite its AI rationale — this contributed to post‑earnings weakness. Zacks: Alphabet drops 7% post Q4 earnings
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust scrutiny has resurfaced: regulators are probing Google’s search‑ads auction/pricing practices in Europe, introducing regulatory risk for ad monetization. Reuters: Google targeted by EU over search advertising auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: Notable institutional trimming reported in 13F updates (e.g., Neuberger, Swiss National Bank saw reductions), which can pressure intraday liquidity/psychology even as other funds add exposure. QuiverQuant: Neuberger Berman fund update

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.