DA Davidson Cuts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target to $350.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its target price lowered by DA Davidson from $375.00 to $350.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities set a $393.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $410.09.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $319.09 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $188.70 and a 52 week high of $404.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $360.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $337.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 17.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after buying an additional 1,073,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet posted a strong Q2 beat, with revenue and EPS coming in ahead of expectations, while Google Cloud revenue surged 82% and cloud margins improved sharply.
• Positive Sentiment: AI and product demand remain strong, with management saying AI usage is rising across Search, Cloud, and Gemini, supporting the long-term growth story.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish views or raised targets, and multiple commentary pieces argued the stock looks attractive after the pullback.
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a deal worth more than $1 billion with Google for dark fiber connectivity, adding another sign of infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s data-center buildout. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo is reportedly considering ending its Uber partnership, which could affect how quickly Alphabet’s robotaxi business scales, but the direct financial impact is still unclear. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also disclosed a large SpaceX stake and saw some institutional holders trim positions, but these items are secondary to the main debate over AI spending and cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were unnerved by Alphabet’s higher CapEx guidance and negative free cash flow, which raised concerns that AI spending may be outpacing near-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet was also hit by an EU antitrust fine of about $1 billion, adding another regulatory overhang. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Moody’s warned that the industry-wide AI buildout could threaten credit quality at Alphabet and other hyperscalers, reinforcing concerns about balance-sheet strain from heavy infrastructure investment. Article Title

Alphabet Company Profile

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.