Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $450.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 27.26% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $417.00 target price (up from $411.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target (up from $415.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $425.72.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $1.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $353.61. 7,382,441 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,580,592. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $239.71 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $345.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $349.52. The company has a market cap of $4.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 20.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 441,399 shares of company stock valued at $8,677,053 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,403,303,000 after acquiring an additional 12,718,127 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,394,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,208,470,000 after acquiring an additional 208,362 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,865,809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457,371 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 29,166,806 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,129,210,000 after acquiring an additional 478,848 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.1% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,631,721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cloud and AI momentum supports the bullish case. Google Cloud reportedly generated $24.8 billion in second-quarter revenue, with operating income more than tripling year over year. Its $514 billion backlog, with roughly half expected to convert to revenue within two years, reinforces expectations for continued growth despite heavy infrastructure spending. Alphabet’s Google Cloud Is Surging at 82%, and the Heavy Spending Is Starting to Make Sense
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains favorable. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its “Overweight” rating and maintained a $420 price target, implying meaningful upside from recent trading levels. Cantor Fitzgerald Reaffirms Overweight Rating for Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo offers an additional growth catalyst. The autonomous-driving unit has surpassed 500,000 fully autonomous rides per week and is targeting substantially greater scale. Its reported $126 billion valuation highlights the potential value of Alphabet’s nonadvertising businesses. Alphabet Is the Robotaxi Stock to Buy as Waymo Chases 1 Million Rides a Week
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding its hardware ecosystem. Google introduced Fitbit Edge, positioned between Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch, potentially broadening its wearable-device lineup. Fitbit Edge is Google’s middle ground between Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Plans for up to $13 billion in Nordic data-center investment could improve access to power and support AI capacity, but also increase capital expenditures and execution risk. Google’s $13 Billion Nordic Bet Points to a New Global Front in the AI Power Race
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation remains an overhang. Multiple law firms are soliciting investors ahead of a November 30 deadline to seek lead-plaintiff status in a securities class action covering purchases from May 19 through July 16, 2026. The notices do not establish wrongdoing, but could add legal costs and reputational pressure. Faruqi Alphabet Securities Class Action Deadline Alert

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology and internet services company best known as the parent company of Google. Its primary business, Google Services, includes online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a range of hardware and subscription products.

Alphabet also operates Google Cloud, which provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, productivity software, and artificial intelligence services to businesses, governments, and other organizations.