Wolfe Research Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Key Points

• Wolfe Research cut its price target on Alphabet from $390 to $360 but kept an "outperform" rating, a level that implies roughly a 13% upside from the prior close.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive with a consensus target of $366.92 and mostly Buy/Strong Buy ratings; Alphabet beat Q4 estimates (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.57) and Google Cloud revenue surged about 50% to $17.66B.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently—about 2.07 million shares sold in the last 90 days worth ~$104.7M—while institutional investors (hedge funds/others) hold roughly 40% of the stock.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by analysts at Wolfe Research from $390.00 to $360.00 in a report issued on Friday. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the information services provider's stock. Wolfe Research's price objective points to a potential upside of 13.03% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on GOOGL. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.92.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $318.49 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.46, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $307.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $297.90. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $146.10 and a 52-week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock valued at $104,708,426. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $4,008,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $83,925,000. Cornerstone Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $6,747,000. AMG Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $895,000. Finally, Forty three Eighteen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $2,205,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud is the company’s fastest‑growing segment (Q4 revenue surged ~50% to $17.66B), underpinning upside to revenue and margins as AI demand drives higher cloud spending. Forget Google Search: This Business Is Alphabet's Real Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Google deepened a multi‑year partnership with Intel to co‑develop AI infrastructure (CPUs/IPUs) for Google Cloud — this secures lower‑cost, high‑performance compute for AI workloads and supports scale for cloud AI customers. Google and Intel deepen AI infrastructure partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom re‑upped long‑term TPU and networking supply agreements with Google and expanded TPU access for Anthropic — locking in multi‑year AI compute capacity that supports Google’s internal AI roadmap and third‑party cloud offerings. That deal increases visibility for AI infrastructure spend at Google. Broadcom Locks in Multi-Year AI Wins With Google and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo’s geographic expansion (Nashville) and Wing’s Atlanta drone delivery rollout signal commercialization progress for Alphabet’s “other bets,” offering potential new revenue streams beyond ads and cloud. Alphabet Climbs 4% on Waymo's Nashville Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street and prominent managers remain supportive — Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an overweight with a $370 PT and commentators like Jim Cramer and Yacktman’s Molly Pieroni publicly backed Alphabet, reinforcing investor conviction. Benzinga (Cantor Fitzgerald note) Why Microsoft and Google could be the best Mag 7 stock picks Jim Cramer Explains Why He Chose to Stay in Alphabet Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet joined industry efforts on AI security and resilience (Project Glasswing / industry coalitions), which reduce systemic AI risk but have limited near‑term revenue impact — they’re more defensive/long‑term positives. Microsoft’s New AI Alliances Reframe Its Role In Patents And Security
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and content‑moderation risks resurfaced: Indonesia issued a reprimand to YouTube over compliance with new children’s social media rules, and EU fines on Big Tech remain a political overhang — these can increase compliance costs and create headline volatility. Indonesia sends letter of reprimand to YouTube The Trump administration is getting angry as EU Big Tech fines top $7 billion in 2 years
• Negative Sentiment: Operational risks around data‑center projects (community pushback on water/land use) could delay capacity builds in some markets, potentially slowing infrastructure scale needed for AI growth. While Amazon, Microsoft, Google Struggle With AI On Land

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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