Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Alphabet has a consensus analyst rating of "Buy" based on 38 ratings, with 29 buy and 5 strong buy calls. The average 12-month price target is about $376.78.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, reporting $5.11 EPS on $109.9 billion in revenue, both above analyst estimates. Revenue rose 21.8% year over year, and Alphabet also announced a higher quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.
• Recent commentary has been mostly positive, with firms like TD Cowen and Scotiabank raising price targets, though some insider selling has occurred. Institutional ownership remains significant, with hedge funds and other investors holding 27.26% of the stock.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the thirty-eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-nine have assigned a buy recommendation and five have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $376.7813.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,605. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A increased its position in Alphabet by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $367.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $364.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.07. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $163.33 and a 1 year high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.81 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to draw bullish attention as investors highlight accelerating Google Cloud growth, improving margins, and a very large backlog that suggests strong demand for AI and cloud services. Alphabet: Google Cloud Is Outperforming Azure And AWS; $462 Billion Backlog Requires More AI Investments
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet stake significantly, which is being read as a strong vote of confidence in GOOG’s long-term outlook. Berkshire Hathaway Expands Alphabet (GOOGL) Stake to 58M Shares as Ackman Exits
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s major AI and data-center investments, including a reported $1.5 billion Alabama campus expansion and broader capex plans, are supporting the view that the company is buying future growth. Alphabet (GOOGL) Announces $1.5 Billion Investment Across 2026 And 2027 To Expand Its Alabama Data Center Campus

Alphabet Company Profile

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.

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