Wedbush Brokers Lower Earnings Estimates for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Analysts at Wedbush dropped their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for Alphabet in a report released on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now anticipates that the information services provider will post earnings of $2.16 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.17. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.02 per share.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%.

GOOG has been the topic of several other research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $193.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $192.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.03. The company has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.