Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-one brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-one have assigned a buy recommendation and four have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $315.9020.

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $307.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $289.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.27. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,637,000 after buying an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $448,684,000 after acquiring an additional 56,295 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stores Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud locked an expanded, multibillion-dollar strategic deal with Palo Alto Networks — reported by Reuters as “approaching $10 billion” — which materially strengthens Cloud revenue outlook and security services momentum. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $350 and kept a Buy rating — a notable analyst upgrade that signals upward earnings/valuation expectations and supports short‑term buying interest. Citigroup adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Google reports strong talent flows in AI — ~20% of 2025 AI software engineer hires were “boomerangs” (ex‑employees) — which investors view as a competitive advantage in the AI arms race vs. OpenAI/Anthropic/Meta. Google’s boomerang year
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/trading signals flagged a Power Inflow alert (benzinga), which can attract short‑term momentum traders but is not a fundamental catalyst. GOOG Hits Intraday High After Key Trading Signal
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and thematic stories (Zacks, cloud lists, MarketBeat pieces) are keeping retail/institutional attention on GOOGL as a core cloud and AI holding — supporting flows but not an immediate earnings surprise. Alphabet is a trending stock (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: A Spanish consumer group has launched preliminary legal action alleging sensitive data collection and privacy violations — an escalation that could lead to fines or longer-term compliance costs. Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row
• Negative Sentiment: Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions — another regulatory action that can pressure mobile‑related revenue/margins and raises the risk of further regional remedies. Mexico’s antitrust commission resolves Android case
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales were disclosed this week (CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives/directors sold shares), which can be viewed negatively by some investors even if sales are routine or for diversification/tax reasons. SEC filing: Sundar Pichai insider sale

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.