Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Key Points

• Robert W. Baird raised its price target on Alphabet to $400 from $380 with an "outperform" rating—other firms also bumped targets (e.g., Truist $415, Needham $450), leaving a consensus of "Moderate Buy" and an average target around $385, implying upside from current levels.
• Alphabet crushed Q1 estimates, reporting $5.11 EPS versus $2.64 expected and $109.9B revenue with Google Cloud up ~63% (>$20B), which fueled positive sentiment, though investors face regulatory risks (EU scrutiny, a Swiss probe) and potential cloud capacity constraints.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Robert W. Baird from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the information services provider's stock. Robert W. Baird's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 8.09% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.27.

Alphabet Stock Up 5.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $370.05 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $147.84 and a 1-year high of $377.04. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's 50 day moving average is $312.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.27. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.59 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,037,192 shares of company stock valued at $94,182,217 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 855.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.