Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Expected to Rise, TD Cowen Analyst Says

Key Points

• TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet from $375 to $450 and maintains a "buy" rating, implying roughly an 18% upside from the recent close.
• Alphabet materially beat Q1 expectations—EPS $5.11 vs. $2.63 and revenue $109.9B—driven by a ~63% Google Cloud growth and AI monetization, prompting multiple analyst upgrades and higher targets.
• Potential headwinds include notable insider selling (over 2 million shares worth about $94M in three months), a raised 2026 capex outlook (~$180–190B), and renewed EU regulatory scrutiny that could temper future upside.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at TD Cowen from $375.00 to $450.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the information services provider's stock. TD Cowen's price target indicates a potential upside of 18.22% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $360.57.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded up $33.33 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $380.64. The company had a trading volume of 34,937,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,996,371. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $310.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $307.25. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $149.49 and a 1-year high of $382.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $2.48. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,037,192 shares of company stock valued at $94,182,217 over the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings materially beat expectations — EPS $5.11 and revenue $109.9B; Google Cloud growth accelerated ~63%, validating AI monetization and driving investor confidence. Alphabet's cloud unit beats quarterly revenue estimates on strong AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud momentum and large enterprise backlog underpin multi‑year revenue visibility (reports cite a very large cloud backlog and surging AI product revenue). This is a primary rationale analysts give for higher targets. Alphabet's Google Cloud Growth Rate Accelerates: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Product wins and distribution: Google is rolling Gemini (its advanced AI assistant) into millions of vehicles with Google Built‑In, expanding reach of AI features and potential ad/commerce integrations. Google's Gemini AI assistant is hitting the road in millions of vehicles
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is raising price targets and issuing upgrades after the quarter (multiple firms lifted targets and reiterated buys), supporting further upside expectations. Wall Street Lifts Alphabet Price Targets After Cloud's 63% Growth: Is the AI Stack Story Just Getting Started?
• Neutral Sentiment: Subscriptions and ad resilience: YouTube and Google One subscriptions added millions of users, helping diversify revenue beyond direct ad clicks. Google gains 25M subscriptions in Q1, driven by YouTube and Google One
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy capex plan — Alphabet raised 2026 capex guidance (to as much as ~$180–190B) and signaled increased spending in 2027; this funds AI/data‑center growth but reduces near‑term free cash flow. Alphabet ups 2026 capex to as much as $190 billion, expects to 'significantly increase' in 2027
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and antitrust scrutiny is resurfacing in Europe (Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search tools) — any major remedy or fines could dampen growth or change product economics. Italy's media regulator asks EU to investigate Google AI search tools over publisher
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and elevated scrutiny on buybacks/cash flow: public datasets show significant insider share sales and large buybacks historically — watch insider flows and whether buybacks offset dilution from comp and capex. Alphabet Stock (GOOGL) Opinions on Q1 Earnings Beat

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.

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