Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Alphabet has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 47 buy ratings, 2 strong buys, and 5 holds across 54 analysts. The average 12-month price target is about $411.23.
• Recent research notes have been bullish, including price-target increases from firms like Loop Capital, Truist, Piper Sandler, and Arete Research. Several of these firms now see Alphabet trading in the $415 to $490 range.
• The company also reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share. Alphabet continues to draw attention for its AI push, including a major AI infrastructure joint venture with Blackstone and growing usage of Gemini and AI Overviews.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the fifty-four analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, forty-seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $411.2290.

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Loop Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $395.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Arete Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total transaction of $37,842.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,908,391. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $387.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61. 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $333.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $319.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI infrastructure joint venture to build TPU-powered cloud capacity, which could deepen demand for Google’s custom chips and expand its AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the idea that Alphabet is monetizing AI rather than just defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating, signaling continued upside expectations. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, suggesting its AI products are already reaching scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider sales by a major shareholder, but the transactions appear routine and are not, by themselves, a strong fundamental signal. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are uneasy that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could disrupt the company’s core ad model, especially as the “ten blue links” era fades. Google Search as you know it is over
• Negative Sentiment: There is also headline risk from broader scrutiny around platform responsibility and YouTube youth-safety issues, which may keep some investors cautious. Alphabet’s $5 Trillion Milestone: How AI Ambitions Are Fueling Google’s Record Run

Alphabet Company Profile

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.

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