Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) to “Strong-Buy”

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

GOOG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $310.92 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $321.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10. 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.

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and deep-dive bullish takes argue AI-driven capex will widen Alphabet’s competitive moat — Q4 strength (18% revenue growth, 48% Cloud) supports faster recurring revenue and margin expansion, underpinning multi-hundred-dollar price targets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo moved to a more constructive rating (upgrade/Overweight), part of a cluster of bullish analyst notes and raised price targets (median ~ $370), supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deep strategic assets and partnerships (14% stake in Anthropic, early SpaceX stake, Gemini distribution across devices) are being highlighted as underappreciated value drivers that reinforce long-term upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operationally supportive energy and data‑center deals: Google announced a 1.9GW clean-power backing (including a 100‑hour battery) and utilities (Xcel, AES) signed supply agreements for new data centers — reduces energy risk for large AI builds. Read More. and Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context: Bridgewater estimates Big Tech will invest roughly $650B in AI this year — validates the sector capex trend that benefits hyperscalers but doesn’t single out winners. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying AI‑chip competition and trade‑secret tensions (Google vs. Nvidia, new entrants raising capital) could pressure costs and supplier dynamics — a nearer-term risk to margins and model-training economics. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concerns about the pace of AI capex hitting free cash flow and accounting scrutiny — social/analyst chatter and high-profile skepticism (Michael Burry) raise questions about FCF, depreciation, and reported margins. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling activity (including CEO filings) is being noted by market participants and can sap near‑term sentiment despite institutional bullishness. Read More.

About Alphabet

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.