Erste Group Bank Expects Increased Earnings for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Investment analysts at Erste Group Bank raised their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Alphabet in a report issued on Wednesday, February 18th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $11.44 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $11.26. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.89 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Alphabet’s FY2027 earnings at $13.31 EPS.

GOOG has been the topic of several other research reports. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $310.92 on Monday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 43,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,751,000 after buying an additional 11,748 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. Ketron Financial bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,685,000. Coastline Complete Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $728,000. Finally, Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Barnes Wealth Management Group Inc now owns 2,902 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and deep-dive bullish takes argue AI-driven capex will widen Alphabet’s competitive moat — Q4 strength (18% revenue growth, 48% Cloud) supports faster recurring revenue and margin expansion, underpinning multi-hundred-dollar price targets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo moved to a more constructive rating (upgrade/Overweight), part of a cluster of bullish analyst notes and raised price targets (median ~ $370), supporting upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Deep strategic assets and partnerships (14% stake in Anthropic, early SpaceX stake, Gemini distribution across devices) are being highlighted as underappreciated value drivers that reinforce long-term upside. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operationally supportive energy and data‑center deals: Google announced a 1.9GW clean-power backing (including a 100‑hour battery) and utilities (Xcel, AES) signed supply agreements for new data centers — reduces energy risk for large AI builds. Read More. and Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry context: Bridgewater estimates Big Tech will invest roughly $650B in AI this year — validates the sector capex trend that benefits hyperscalers but doesn’t single out winners. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Intensifying AI‑chip competition and trade‑secret tensions (Google vs. Nvidia, new entrants raising capital) could pressure costs and supplier dynamics — a nearer-term risk to margins and model-training economics. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concerns about the pace of AI capex hitting free cash flow and accounting scrutiny — social/analyst chatter and high-profile skepticism (Michael Burry) raise questions about FCF, depreciation, and reported margins. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling activity (including CEO filings) is being noted by market participants and can sap near‑term sentiment despite institutional bullishness. Read More.

About Alphabet

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.