UBS Group Reiterates Neutral Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• UBS reiterated a "neutral" rating on Alphabet, but multiple other firms have raised price targets and the consensus remains a “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $385.27.
• Alphabet reported a major Q1 beat — EPS $5.11 vs. $2.64 expected and revenue $109.9B — driven by 63% Google Cloud growth and strong ad/subscription trends that have boosted the stock.
• Corporate insiders have sold materially (2,037,192 shares worth ~$94.2M over the last 90 days), while regulatory and antitrust scrutiny in Europe and elsewhere poses potential compliance costs and headline risk.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by equities research analysts at UBS Group in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Dbs Bank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Alphabet from an "overweight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.27.

Alphabet Stock Up 5.7%

GOOGL stock opened at $370.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $312.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.27. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $147.84 and a 1-year high of $377.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.59 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Analysts expect that Alphabet will post 11.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,037,192 shares of company stock valued at $94,182,217 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Symmetry Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $730,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corus Family Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the first quarter. Corus Family Wealth Advisors now owns 2,090 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big earnings beat and strong cloud growth — Alphabet crushed Q1 EPS and revenue estimates, driven by a 63% jump at Google Cloud and accelerating ad/subscription trends, which is the primary reason the stock is up. Earnings Call Transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price-target lifts — Multiple firms raised targets and kept buy/neutral views (Needham to $450, Truist to $415, Rosenblatt to $393, Pivotal to $470), reinforcing upside expectations and supporting further share gains. Price Target Raises
• Positive Sentiment: Subscription and ad strength — 25M net paid subscriptions added and YouTube ad revenue growth bolster recurring revenue and monetization upside. Subscriptions Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Cloud capacity note — Google Cloud topped $20B revenue but management flagged capacity constraints; strong demand is positive, but capacity limits could cap near-term upside. Cloud Capacity
• Neutral Sentiment: Commercial partnerships & infra build — Deals like Stripe integration and local data-center power agreements support monetization and infrastructure scale. Stripe Deal Data Centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Pentagon/classified AI deal — Granting DoD API access opens a new government revenue channel but carries employee pushback and reputational risk; investors treat it as a mixed strategic win. Pentagon Deal
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance pressure — Shareholders are pressing for safeguards on cloud/AI usage and the EU is signaling tighter rules on cloud/AI, which could raise compliance costs and constrain some government/enterprise opportunities. Investor Safeguards EU Rules
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust probe in Switzerland — A probe into alleged keyword-bidding pacts could lead to fines or business restrictions if broadened, adding headline risk for ad-dependent revenues. Switzerland Probe

Alphabet Company Profile

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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