Royal Bank Of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $425.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price target indicates a potential upside of 32.92% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 17th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $319.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $362.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $338.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in Alphabet by 855.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004,828 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,259,940 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q2 results showed strong underlying demand, including an 82% surge in Google Cloud revenue and continued growth in Search and YouTube, reinforcing that its core businesses are still expanding. Google Cloud CEO Kurian says customers are spending 50% more as segment blows away expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Barclays argued that a TPU-as-a-service offering could materially lift Alphabet’s long-term profitability, suggesting the market may be underestimating future AI monetization. TPU-As-A-Service could boost Google’s 2028 profit by over 15%: Barclays
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a more than $1 billion dark-fiber deal to support Google’s data centers, underscoring ongoing infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s AI and cloud expansion. Verizon signs deal with Google worth over $1 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet was included in a momentum screen highlighting stocks with strong earnings and favorable price trends, which is supportive but not a major stock-specific catalyst. 3 High-Momentum Stocks to Buy Now Before They Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position, so this does not appear to be a major driver of the move.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried that Alphabet’s AI spending is becoming too large, with the company increasing 2026 capex guidance and reporting negative free cash flow for the first time in years. Alphabet earnings takeaways: Q2 revenue beats, GOOGL stock sinks on 2026 capex hike
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faced fresh regulatory pressure after the European Commission fined Google about $1 billion under the Digital Markets Act. Google hit with $1 billion EU fine, first under landmark rules
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo reportedly may try to end its partnership with Uber, which could create uncertainty around one of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving distribution channels. Waymo reportedly mulling a breakup with Uber

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.