Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $385.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $147.84 and a fifty-two week high of $386.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $313.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $308.26. The company has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Analysts expect that Alphabet will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 191,986 shares of company stock worth $59,159,207 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google’s Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron’s: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

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.