Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at DZ Bank

Posted by Andrew Walz on Jul 25th, 2026

DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on GOOGL. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $319.74 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $362.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $338.74. Alphabet has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 14.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the 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 directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Ruggaard & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,738,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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

(Get Free Report)

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.