Morgan Stanley Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $375.00

Key Points

• Alphabet shares jumped about 9.5% to $383.32 after blowout Q1 results — EPS of $5.11 vs $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9B — led by Google Cloud growth of roughly 63% YoY to over $20B.
• Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $375 (from $330) and kept an "overweight" rating, while the Street broadly lifted targets and the consensus price target sits at $390.65 with a "Moderate Buy" consensus.
• The upbeat outlook is balanced by regulatory and governance risks, including EU probes into Google AI tools and investor/employee scrutiny over cloud/AI use that could constrain operations or lead to penalties.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its target price increased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $330.00 to $375.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the information services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential downside of 2.17% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, New Street Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $390.65.

Alphabet Stock Up 9.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $33.38 during trading on Thursday, hitting $383.32. 46,660,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,187,412. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $147.84 and a 12-month high of $384.30. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $312.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $307.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.59 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,037,192 shares of company stock valued at $94,182,217. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blowout Q1 results — Alphabet reported $5.11 EPS and $109.9B revenue, with Google Cloud topping estimates and enterprise AI demand cited as the driver. This is the primary catalyst for the stock rally. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud growth: Cloud revenue grew ~63% YoY to surpass $20B, signaling strong monetization of AI infrastructure and helping re-rate Alphabet as a leader in enterprise AI. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Subscriptions and ads: YouTube and Google One subscription expansion (25M net adds) plus an ad uplift support durable revenue mix diversification beyond search. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Street lifts targets: A large group of brokers raised price targets and reaffirmed buy/outperform views (examples include Citigroup, Goldman, JPMorgan), amplifying buying momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI capex guidance and capacity: Management signaled continued heavy capex into 2027 to support AI data centers — investors accepted the growth story but the spending cadence remains a watch item for margins. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Data center buildouts progressing: Local deals to power new Google data centers (e.g., OG&E in Oklahoma) reduce execution risk on capacity expansion needed for cloud/AI demand. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance risks: Italy asked the EU to probe Google’s AI search tools over publisher concerns, and Switzerland opened a probe into alleged keyword-bidding pacts — European regulatory pressure could mean fines, product limits or business-model constraints. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor & employee scrutiny: Shareholders pressed Alphabet for safeguards on cloud/AI use by governments, and internal pushback surfaced over expanded Pentagon AI access — these governance issues raise reputational and policy risks. Read More.

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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