UBS Group Cuts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $379.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at UBS Group from $400.00 to $379.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the information services provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.02% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Phillip Securities boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Evercore upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $416.02.

Alphabet Stock Down 6.9%

Alphabet stock traded down $23.66 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $318.43. 55,844,150 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,409,922. Alphabet has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $366.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $338.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet posted blowout Q2 results, with revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, both above Wall Street expectations, while Google Cloud revenue surged 82% year over year. Reuters: Google quarterly cloud revenue growth beats expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI demand is outpacing capacity, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said existing customers are spending roughly 50% more than they initially committed, pointing to strong enterprise demand and room for continued growth. CNBC: Google Cloud CEO Kurian says customers are spending 50% more as segment blows away expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Search, YouTube, and Gemini also showed momentum, with search revenue up 17% and Gemini nearing 1 billion monthly users, reinforcing Alphabet’s broader AI and consumer platform strength. Business Insider: AI is actually making Google search bigger

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.