Wedbush Raises Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $260.00

Key Points

• Wedbush raised Alphabet's price target from $245.00 to $260.00, maintaining an "outperform" rating, which suggests a potential upside of 0.03% from its current stock price.
• Alphabet's stock has received favorable ratings from multiple analysts, with Roth Capital and Jefferies Financial Group setting higher price targets of $265.00 and $285.00, respectively.
• Insider trading reports show significant sales of Alphabet stocks, including a total of 246,150 shares sold by executives in the last quarter, reflecting a decrease in their ownership stakes.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities researchers at Wedbush from $245.00 to $260.00 in a research report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the information services provider's stock. Wedbush's price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.03% from the stock's current price. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet's Q4 2025 earnings at $2.50 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $9.91 EPS.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Roth Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $191.00 to $224.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $263.55.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $259.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $236.72 and its 200-day moving average is $195.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $261.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,236,785. This represents a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total transaction of $8,108,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397,392 shares in the company, valued at $598,149,304. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 246,150 shares of company stock valued at $55,805,379 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

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