Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $400.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank Of Canada from $375.00 to $400.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $322.86 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $321.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

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.