Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-one brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-three have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $357.46.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,224,380. This represents a 0.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Members Trust Co grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Monday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $271.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

More 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

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.