Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed its Buy rating on Alphabet, while several other analysts also maintained bullish views and raised price targets. MarketBeat data shows Alphabet’s consensus rating is now Moderate Buy with an average target price of $412.65.
• Alphabet’s stock was down 0.7% on the day to $385.01, but it remains near its 52-week high of $408.61. The company also sports a large market cap of about $4.66 trillion.
• Alphabet’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $5.11 versus a $2.64 estimate and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion expected. The article also highlighted ongoing insider selling, though institutional ownership remains strong at 40.03%.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.65 on Wednesday, reaching $385.01. The company had a trading volume of 7,576,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,475,125. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $333.00 and a 200-day moving average of $319.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the sale, the director owned 3,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its buy rating on Alphabet and set a $450 price target, signaling continued upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI cloud venture built around Google’s TPUs, a move that could boost AI infrastructure revenue and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position. Thales inks deal with Google for homegrown German cloud provider
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the view that Alphabet is monetizing AI at scale rather than merely defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed some insider selling, including a director sale, but the transactions appear routine and are not a strong fundamental signal on their own. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are wary that Google’s AI-heavy Search redesign could disrupt its core ad model, as the long-standing “ten blue links” format gives way to more AI-generated answers. Google Search as you know it is over

About Alphabet

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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