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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, forty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $366.5714.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America raised their target price 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. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $300.88 on Friday. 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 has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $320.22 and its 200-day moving average is $285.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued 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 payout ratio is 7.77%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large commercial win for Google Cloud — CVS will use Google Cloud to launch an AI‑enabled health platform, a meaningful enterprise contract that validates recurring cloud/AI revenue potential. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish industry/analyst tone on AI adoption — reports projecting large AI spending and recent analyst price‑target increases support a higher long‑term revenue multiple for Google Cloud and Gemini. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional backing spotlighted — coverage noting Berkshire Hathaway’s profitable position in Alphabet reinforces confidence from large investors. That can underpin demand for shares. Berkshire Is Sitting On Google Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine insider selling disclosed — small sales by a director and the CAO (hundreds of shares) are noted by the market but are modest relative to their holdings and not uncommon. Frances Arnold Sells 112 Shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting appears anomalous (zero/NaN in recent feeds) — no clear short squeeze or covering signal from the data provided. Short interest report (data flagged)
• Negative Sentiment: Play Store settlement cuts commissions — Google will lower Play Store commissions to 20% (plus up to 5% for Google billing), which may reduce Play/Android monetization and is a near‑term revenue headwind. Google settles with Epic Games
• Negative Sentiment: AI safety/legal overhang — a wrongful‑death suit alleges harmful instructions from the Gemini chatbot, creating reputational, regulatory and litigation risk for Alphabet’s AI business. Gemini wrongful-death suit
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo safety and regulatory scrutiny — recent incidents and NTSB probes raise execution and regulatory risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑driving unit, which could pressure investor sentiment on non‑core bets. Waymo Faces Mounting Scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical tech pullback — regional tensions and related operational impacts (e.g., Dubai) are compressing tech multiples and weighing on large‑cap names like Alphabet. Rising Tensions Force Tech Pullback

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.