Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-three have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $366.5714.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Arete Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Alphabet from $310.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $300.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $320.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $285.01. 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 has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,277,000 after acquiring an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Centerpoint Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centerpoint Advisory Group now owns 2,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large commercial win for Google Cloud — CVS will use Google Cloud to launch an AI‑enabled health platform, a meaningful enterprise contract that validates recurring cloud/AI revenue potential. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish industry/analyst tone on AI adoption — reports projecting large AI spending and recent analyst price‑target increases support a higher long‑term revenue multiple for Google Cloud and Gemini. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional backing spotlighted — coverage noting Berkshire Hathaway’s profitable position in Alphabet reinforces confidence from large investors. That can underpin demand for shares. Berkshire Is Sitting On Google Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine insider selling disclosed — small sales by a director and the CAO (hundreds of shares) are noted by the market but are modest relative to their holdings and not uncommon. Frances Arnold Sells 112 Shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting appears anomalous (zero/NaN in recent feeds) — no clear short squeeze or covering signal from the data provided. Short interest report (data flagged)
• Negative Sentiment: Play Store settlement cuts commissions — Google will lower Play Store commissions to 20% (plus up to 5% for Google billing), which may reduce Play/Android monetization and is a near‑term revenue headwind. Google settles with Epic Games
• Negative Sentiment: AI safety/legal overhang — a wrongful‑death suit alleges harmful instructions from the Gemini chatbot, creating reputational, regulatory and litigation risk for Alphabet’s AI business. Gemini wrongful-death suit
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo safety and regulatory scrutiny — recent incidents and NTSB probes raise execution and regulatory risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑driving unit, which could pressure investor sentiment on non‑core bets. Waymo Faces Mounting Scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical tech pullback — regional tensions and related operational impacts (e.g., Dubai) are compressing tech multiples and weighing on large‑cap names like Alphabet. Rising Tensions Force Tech Pullback

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.