Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) - What Are Analysts Thinking About This Stock?

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 55 brokerages give Alphabet a consensus “Buy” rating, with an average 12-month price target of $412.51, despite several firms recently trimming their targets.
• Quarterly results fell short of estimates: Alphabet reported EPS of $2.12 versus $3.02 expected, while revenue of $127.58 billion was slightly below forecasts.
• AI and cloud bring both opportunity and risk: Anthropic investment, new AI chips and cloud growth could support the business, but heavy AI spending and concerns about monetization weigh on the outlook; the company also faces a securities lawsuit alleging misrepresentations about a Gemini launch timeline.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the fifty-five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-five have given a buy recommendation and five have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $412.51.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $375.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $420.00 to $410.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Alphabet from $410.00 to $385.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $485.00 target price (up from $415.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Saber Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $35,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $41,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Premier Financial Group bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

GOOGL opened at $287.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $330.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $338.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.69. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $270.70 and a 12-month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 19.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 4.59%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic investment and cloud exposure: Google plans to invest $10 billion in Anthropic at its IPO, adding to Alphabet’s existing stake. Anthropic also has sizable Google Cloud commitments, potentially supporting cloud revenue through computing and marketplace services. Article: Anthropic's Trillion-Dollar IPO Could Give Cloud Giants a Double Win
• Positive Sentiment: AI chips and cloud growth: Google introduced two specialized TPU variants for AI workloads, a move that could reduce reliance on outside chips and broaden Google Cloud’s appeal. Separate coverage highlighted strong Cloud revenue and improved operating margins. Article: Google broadens its AI hardware portfolio Article: Sundar Pichai Just Delivered Stunning News About Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Pixel Tag launch: Google began selling its $30 Android-compatible item tracker, expanding its consumer hardware lineup, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Article: Pixel Tag is now available
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending and monetization concerns: Coverage framed accelerating AI investment as a risk if returns do not justify the cost. JPMorgan also removed Alphabet from its analyst focus list, citing slower AI-search monetization and substantial infrastructure spending, while retaining an Overweight rating. Article: Alphabet investors face a new reality as Google's AI spending accelerates Article: JPMorgan Just Removed Alphabet From Its Analyst Focus List
• Negative Sentiment: Securities lawsuit: Multiple law firms publicized a pending class action alleging misrepresentations about the Gemini 3.5 Pro launch timeline. Investors have until around Dec. 1 to seek lead-plaintiff status; the allegations remain claims, not findings of liability. Article: Investors Have Opportunity to Lead Alphabet Securities Fraud Lawsuit

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google's products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.

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