Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 1.7% during trading on Friday after Dbs Bank raised their price target on the stock from $360.00 to $400.00. Dbs Bank currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $342.32 and last traded at $341.68. Approximately 25,206,698 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 32,804,949 shares. The stock had previously closed at $336.02.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $405.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 12th. Finally, 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,605,814.08. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,069,794 shares of company stock valued at $104,854,147. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DBS raised its price target on Alphabet to $400 and reiterated a Buy rating, signaling incremental analyst conviction and potential upside from AI and cloud growth. DBS Bank adjusts price target on Alphabet to $400 from $360; maintains buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst upgrade was reported today, supporting the stock’s rally by boosting short‑term investor sentiment. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.3% on Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a long‑term power supply deal for a large Indiana data center with NiSource, reducing energy supply uncertainty for Cloud/data‑center expansion. NiSource signs long-term power deal with Alphabet, expands Amazon agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum: Google is rolling out photo integration to Gemini (and Nano Banana), which strengthens consumer AI features and engagement pathways that can feed monetization. Google will let users connect their photos to the Gemini chatbot and Nano Banana
• Neutral Sentiment: Speculative models predict further upside into month‑end, but machine‑learning forecasts are noisy and should be treated as sentiment indicators rather than fundamentals. Machine learning algorithm predicts Google stock price on April 30, 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly in talks with the U.S. Department of Defense on deploying Gemini in classified settings — a potential revenue/strategic win but with contractual/clearing complexities. Google, Pentagon discuss classified AI deal, the Information reports
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other outlets continue to flag Alphabet as a long‑term growth name given AI and cloud leadership; useful for conviction but already priced into the rally. Why Alphabet (GOOGL) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: the European Commission has outlined measures under the DMA that would force Google to share search and AI chat data with rivals — this could pressure search advantage and ad economics in Europe. Google should allow third-party search engines access to data, EU says
• Negative Sentiment: Cost and margin risks: analysts warn that 2026 capex, higher depreciation and energy costs could squeeze margins and free cash flow even as revenue growth from AI/cloud accelerates. Alphabet Shares Rise 7% YTD: Buy, Sell, or Hold the GOOGL Stock?

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $306.82 and its 200-day moving average is $301.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors 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 yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

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.