Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given “Market Outperform” Rating at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp restated their market outperform rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $385.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.76.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $321.39 on Monday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $146.10 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $306.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.57. 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 (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, 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 analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,068,744 shares of company stock valued at $104,505,914 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Members Trust Co increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom extended a multi‑year agreement with Google to supply chips for TPUs through 2031, which UBS says eases investor concerns about Google’s chip sourcing and supports near‑term AI infrastructure demand. Broadcom deal with Google signals stronger AI demand but long-term risks remain: UBS
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable AI deal coverage (Anthropic/TPU opportunity) and bullish commentary position Alphabet as an AI‑infrastructure play, reinforcing upside expectations for revenue from cloud and TPU sales. Catalyst Alert: Anthropic Deal Makes Alphabet Stock a Must-Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Large investor activity: Stanley Druckenmiller materially increased his Alphabet stake last quarter, a high‑profile buy that can lift sentiment among momentum and institutional investors. Stanley Druckenmiller Made 1 Huge Bet That Still Looks Attractive Today and Cut 2 Top Positions
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/strategy tailwinds: Google is funding nationwide AI training for manufacturing workers, supporting enterprise adoption of its AI stack and strengthening longer‑term demand for cloud/AI services. Google partners on AI training for thousands of American manufacturing workers
• Positive Sentiment: Market sentiment and upgrades: Zacks and other outlets highlight positive analyst momentum (Zacks Rank upgrade and positive writeups), which supports buying interest today. What Makes Alphabet (GOOGL) a New Buy Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: several firms reaffirm or trim targets (Citizens/JMP reaffirmed outperform at $385; Stifel trimmed its target slightly but stayed Buy; Wolfe cut to $360, while some outlets show higher targets), leaving a range of expectations for future upside. Stifel adjusts price target on Alphabet Price Target Raised to $420
• Neutral Sentiment: Startups and ecosystem activity (e.g., Primepoint’s $10M seed round led by AI veterans) show continued AI ecosystem growth but have indirect impact on Alphabet’s near‑term fundamentals. Primepoint closes $10M seed round
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term technology pivots (quantum computing coverage) are discussed as multi‑year catalysts; these are strategic positives but unlikely to move near‑term earnings. Quantum Computing Stocks: Is Google’s Tech Roadmap Changing?
• Negative Sentiment: Ad‑revenue competition: eMarketer/WSJ reports project Meta overtaking Google as the top global digital‑ad revenue company by end‑2026, a key long‑term risk for Google’s core search/ad margin profile. Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time

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.