Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $420.00 at BNP Paribas Exane

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target upped by analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from $390.00 to $420.00 in a report released on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.30% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Bank of America increased their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $384.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,416,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,170,391. The business’s 50-day moving average is $313.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $307.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.31, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $147.84 and a 52-week high of $385.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 41.25% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% 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 617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,884 shares of company stock valued at $59,121,365. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blowout Q1 results — strong ad, subscription and Google Cloud growth reset expectations and underpin optimism that AI investments are paying off. Alphabet Cloud Beats Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street upgrades and price-target raises from multiple banks (including JPMorgan, Goldman, Cantor Fitzgerald, Citi and others) are amplifying buy-side momentum and providing fresh upside narratives. JPMorgan Price Target Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Big‑picture AI spending tailwinds — hyperscalers’ 2026 AI commitments topping ~$700B increase demand for cloud services and infrastructure that benefits Google Cloud long term. Hyperscalers AI Spend
• Positive Sentiment: Government work: the Pentagon reached agreements with leading AI firms including Google — supports revenue diversity and potential long-term contracts. Pentagon AI Agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder-friendly moves: Alphabet raised its quarterly dividend (small yield) and saw unusually large call-option buying, both signaling investor confidence and demand for upside exposure.
• Neutral Sentiment: Product momentum: Gemini is rolling into millions of vehicles and partnerships (Stripe integration, Waymo expansions) broaden monetization paths, but revenue impact will scale over time. Gemini in Vehicles
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance risks — Italy asked the EU to probe Google’s AI search tools; Switzerland opened a probe into keyword-bidding practices; investors are pressing Alphabet on safeguards for cloud/AI use. Those issues increase legal/regulatory uncertainty. Italy EU Probe Request Switzerland Probe Investor Safeguards Push
• Negative Sentiment: Rising CapEx — Alphabet signaled continued heavy investment in AI/data centers; while investors rewarded growth this quarter, sustained high capex can pressure free cash flow and sentiment if growth slows. CapEx Surge Note

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.