Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wedbush raised their price target on the stock from $350.00 to $360.00. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $332.48 and last traded at $328.38. Approximately 35,037,391 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 8% from the average daily volume of 32,443,297 shares. The stock had previously closed at $322.00.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho set a $365.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up previously from $320.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 189,909 shares of company stock worth $57,927,282 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst price-target raises signal renewed buy-side conviction (Deutsche Bank to $370, Robert W. Baird to $350, Wedbush to $360), implying visible upside expectations for revenue and AI-driven growth. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction for Gemini: reports of a surge in sales of Google’s Gemini AI models point to stronger monetization of AI products and Google Cloud demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Positive press narratives reinforce the AI leadership story — coverage highlights 60%+ YTD gains, margin improvement, large shareholder payouts, and Alphabet as a long-term AI winner. These narratives support investor appetite for the stock. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube management flags content quality risks from AI-generated video and says ‘managing AI slop’ is a 2026 priority — this is operationally important but shows management is addressing the issue rather than leaving it untracked. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs delayed first clinical trials into late 2026 — a setback for a non-core, long-horizon biotech bet; limited near-term impact on Alphabet’s core ad/cloud earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Alphabet from ‘strong-buy’ to ‘hold’, signaling some analyst caution on valuation or near-term momentum. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/headline risk pushed tech lower yesterday (Greenland/tariff rhetoric); Alphabet saw a sharper intraday dip than the broader market, highlighting sensitivity to risk-off moves. Read More. Read More.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $448,684,000 after buying an additional 56,295 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $352,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $313.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.95. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

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.