Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $225.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) had its target price increased by Wedbush from $200.00 to $225.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider's stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet's Q3 2025 earnings at $2.29 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.49 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $9.55 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.75 EPS.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.32.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The business's 50-day moving average is $175.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.