Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $420.00 Price Target at Evercore

Key Points

• Evercore raised its price target on Alphabet to $420 (from $400) and kept an "outperform" rating, implying roughly a 13.5% upside from the current price.
• Alphabet delivered a big Q1 beat — EPS $5.11 vs. $2.64 and revenue $109.9B — led by a 63% jump at Google Cloud and stronger ad/subscription trends, prompting multiple analysts to lift targets and driving a stock rally.
• Insiders have been net sellers (2,037,192 shares sold in the last 90 days, including CEO Sundar Pichai), while large institutions like Vanguard and State Street increased holdings, with about 40% of the stock owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Evercore from $400.00 to $420.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the information services provider's stock. Evercore's target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.50% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Dbs Bank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.27.

Alphabet Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $370.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $312.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.27. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $147.84 and a 52-week high of $377.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.59 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,037,192 shares of company stock valued at $94,182,217. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big earnings beat and strong cloud growth — Alphabet crushed Q1 EPS and revenue estimates, driven by a 63% jump at Google Cloud and accelerating ad/subscription trends, which is the primary reason the stock is up. Earnings Call Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price-target lifts — Multiple firms raised targets and kept buy/neutral views (Needham to $450, Truist to $415, Rosenblatt to $393, Pivotal to $470), reinforcing upside expectations and supporting further share gains. Price Target Raises
• Positive Sentiment: Subscription and ad strength — 25M net paid subscriptions added and YouTube ad revenue growth bolster recurring revenue and monetization upside. Subscriptions Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Cloud capacity note — Google Cloud topped $20B revenue but management flagged capacity constraints; strong demand is positive, but capacity limits could cap near-term upside. Cloud Capacity
• Neutral Sentiment: Commercial partnerships & infra build — Deals like Stripe integration and local data-center power agreements support monetization and infrastructure scale. Stripe Deal Data Centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Pentagon/classified AI deal — Granting DoD API access opens a new government revenue channel but carries employee pushback and reputational risk; investors treat it as a mixed strategic win. Pentagon Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance pressure — Shareholders are pressing for safeguards on cloud/AI usage and the EU is signaling tighter rules on cloud/AI, which could raise compliance costs and constrain some government/enterprise opportunities. Investor Safeguards EU Rules
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust probe in Switzerland — A probe into alleged keyword-bidding pacts could lead to fines or business restrictions if broadened, adding headline risk for ad-dependent revenues. Switzerland Probe

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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