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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the forty-one research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and eight have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $343.90.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big AI partnerships and product wins reinforce growth thesis — Google announced partnerships to build AI tools with Sea Ltd and is rolling music‑focused generative AI (Gemini) into consumer apps, underlining continued enterprise and consumer AI monetization opportunities. Google, Shopee-owner Sea to develop AI tools Google Gemini, Apple add music-focused generative AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic infrastructure and international AI push — Alphabet unveiled the America‑India Connect initiative and committed substantial funding to an AI hub, supporting long‑term cloud and data‑center demand for Google Cloud. Alphabet Unveils America-India Connect
• Positive Sentiment: Street bullishness on AI growth — Analysts and newsletters have issued upgrades and higher targets (including a Seeking Alpha/TipRanks bullish take and DZ Bank strong‑buy), which supports upside expectations for ad, cloud and Gemini monetization. Gemini and Google Cloud analysis TipRanks price-target note
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/partner news with limited near‑term revenue impact — Google launched the $499 Pixel 10a and a Google Cloud partner (Alludium) gained Select status; useful for ecosystem depth but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. Google debuts $499 Pixel 10a Alludium Google Cloud Select partner
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/headline risk for Waymo — New York dropped a robotaxi expansion plan outside NYC, and Waymo faces scrutiny over remote assistance practices; any regulatory constraints or reputational hits could slow Waymo commercialization and raise costs. NY drops robotaxi proposal
• Negative Sentiment: Capital‑structure and capex concerns — Coverage flagged Alphabet’s issuance of an unusually long‑dated financing (100‑year bond) and the company’s very large AI/data‑center CapEx outlook; investors worry near‑term margins and free cash flow could be pressured even if the long‑term moat strengthens. 100-year bond analysis CapEx discussion
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming & insider selling — Several funds trimmed positions in 13F filings and a director sold a small block; combined with profit‑taking after the strong run, this adds selling pressure despite longer‑term buyers. Director sale filing

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,079,982 shares of company stock worth $109,267,889. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after acquiring an additional 15,830,754 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $303.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $320.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.09. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $350.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

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.