Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the forty-four brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirty-four have issued a buy recommendation and six have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $419.93.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Alphabet from $460.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Roth Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 441,399 shares of company stock valued at $8,677,053. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Miller Global Investments LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 12.4% during the third quarter. Miller Global Investments LLC now owns 3,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Polaris Financial Partners purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,448,000. Boltwood Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the third quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 3,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,126,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 35,656 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in Alphabet by 48.9% during the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 1,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gemini 4 Argon strengthens Alphabet’s AI narrative. Google says its new flagship model delivers strong results in coding, cybersecurity, finance, legal work and video understanding. Aggressive pricing could pressure rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, while potentially expanding demand for Google Cloud and other Alphabet services. Google has been playing catch up with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive. JPMorgan maintained a positive view, and BNP Paribas reportedly retained a $420 target, citing Argon’s benchmark performance and Alphabet’s ability to monetize AI through its massive consumer, advertising and cloud ecosystems. JPMorgan sets Google stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Market conditions provided a tailwind. Alphabet was among the contributors to gains in the S&P 500, alongside other large technology stocks, indicating that broad risk appetite also helped support GOOG. SPY is up 0.7% today
• Neutral Sentiment: New growth initiatives could add longer-term value. YouTube is considering additional live-sports rights, while Project Suncatcher is testing Google AI chips in orbit. Both initiatives are strategically interesting but are unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. YouTube sports strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain skeptical of Argon’s commercial impact. The model’s rollout is restricted initially because of safety concerns, and analysts note that Google still trails competitors in consumer-facing personal AI agents. This helps explain why the stock’s initial AI-related gains faded. Google unveils latest AI model
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and regulatory risks remain significant. Alphabet is challenging EU orders requiring access to search data and services, while a new securities-fraud class action covers investors who purchased shares during the May–July period. Separately, publishers may pursue more than $3.2 billion in damages. GOOGL class action notice
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending creates valuation and margin concerns. Alphabet is committing heavily to chips, data centers and power even as some analysts warn that expanding compute supply could reduce pricing. Investors need evidence that AI revenue growth will justify the capital expenditure.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of GOOG opened at $340.35 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $342.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.33. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $236.68 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet will post 20.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. Established in 2015 through a corporate restructuring, Alphabet oversees Google and a collection of businesses focused on technology, innovation and emerging industries. Sundar Pichai serves as Alphabet’s chief executive officer and also leads Google.

Google is Alphabet’s primary business and operates an internet ecosystem that includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.