FY2026 EPS Estimates for Alphabet Lifted by Erste Group Bank

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Equities researchers at Erste Group Bank upped their FY2026 EPS estimates for Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the information services provider will earn $11.44 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $11.26. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.89 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Alphabet’s FY2027 earnings at $13.31 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on GOOG. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $314.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $320.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.08. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

About Alphabet

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.