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

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the forty brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and seven have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $343.90.

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $306.02 on Friday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after buying an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after buying an additional 1,073,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,841,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,543,838,000 after buying an additional 1,132,013 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s results and AI traction remain strong: Cloud revenue and enterprise backlog are accelerating and Gemini user metrics/support drive upside to long‑term monetization. Zacks: The Zacks Analyst Alphabet…
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment of next‑gen robotaxis signals commercial progress for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, a longer‑term growth catalyst. CNBC: Waymo begins deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Some large asset managers are net buying while others trimmed positions — BNP Paribas added a multi‑million share position in GOOG, offsetting other institutional reductions. QuiverQuant: BNP Paribas fund update
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures in recent feeds show zero shares (likely a data anomaly), so shorting activity is not a clear driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet completed a very large multi‑currency debt offering (including long‑dated tranches/century bond reports), which has spooked some investors worried about aggressive debt‑funded CapEx and the lack of customary bond protections. Reuters: Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails…
• Negative Sentiment: Management guided 2026 CapEx sharply higher (~$175–$185B), and the market has treated that as a near‑term cash‑flow/headwind risk despite its AI rationale — this contributed to post‑earnings weakness. Zacks: Alphabet drops 7% post Q4 earnings
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust scrutiny has resurfaced: regulators are probing Google’s search‑ads auction/pricing practices in Europe, introducing regulatory risk for ad monetization. Reuters: Google targeted by EU over search advertising auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: Notable institutional trimming reported in 13F updates (e.g., Neuberger, Swiss National Bank saw reductions), which can pressure intraday liquidity/psychology even as other funds add exposure. QuiverQuant: Neuberger Berman fund update

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.