KeyCorp Has Negative Forecast for Alphabet Q3 Earnings

Key Points

• KeyCorp lowered Alphabet’s Q3 2026 EPS forecast to $2.99 from $3.02, while maintaining its “Overweight” rating and $445 price target.
• Alphabet’s latest quarterly results substantially exceeded expectations, with EPS of $9.11 versus the $2.89 consensus and revenue of $119.8 billion, driven by strong Google Cloud and Search growth.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Alphabet has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $419.86, despite concerns about elevated AI infrastructure spending and pressure on cash flow.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) - KeyCorp lowered their Q3 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Alphabet in a note issued to investors on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp analyst J. Patterson now expects that the information services provider will post earnings of $2.99 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $3.02. KeyCorp has a "Overweight" rating and a $445.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet's current full-year earnings is $19.79 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for Alphabet's Q4 2026 earnings at $3.27 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $20.48 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $15.24 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. President Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, HSBC restated a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned 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 "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $333.71 on Wednesday. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $187.82 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50 day moving average is $360.45 and its 200 day moving average is $339.07. The company has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during 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 buying an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 23,417 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total transaction of $442,112.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 285,049 shares of company stock worth $10,051,351. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter results were strong, with revenue rising 24% year over year to $119.8 billion. Google Cloud revenue surged 82% to $24.8 billion, operating income more than tripled to $8.8 billion, and Search revenue grew 17%, supporting the company’s AI monetization and demand outlook. Alphabet earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains broadly constructive. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to “strong buy,” while KeyCorp maintained an “Overweight” rating and a $445 price target. KeyCorp also sharply raised its FY2026 EPS forecast to $20.48 from $14.41 and lifted its FY2028 estimate to $17.88. Erste Group separately increased its FY2027 EPS forecast to $14.74. Alphabet analyst upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Several investment commentaries argue that the selloff was excessive given Alphabet’s accelerating Cloud business, $514 billion backlog and early AI revenue opportunities. The company also expanded YouTube’s ecosystem through a multiyear agreement to include Peacock content for YouTube Premium subscribers. YouTube and Peacock agreement
• Neutral Sentiment: KeyCorp made modest cuts to its Q3 2026 EPS estimate, to $2.99 from $3.02, its Q4 estimate to $3.27 from $3.34, and its FY2027 estimate to $15.24 from $15.27. The firm nevertheless retained its bullish rating and price target. Alphabet analyst estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet raised 2026 capital-expenditure guidance to approximately $195 billion–$205 billion. Quarterly capital spending reached $44.9 billion, pushing free cash flow negative and prompting concerns that AI infrastructure investments could pressure returns, cash generation and future buybacks. Alphabet AI spending concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Additional overhangs include potential European private damages claims following Google’s $1 billion competition fine, scrutiny of Waymo’s emergency-response procedures, and repeated sales by a major shareholder. Broader investor anxiety about AI costs is also weighing on hyperscaler valuations. Google European damages claims

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.

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.