Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $450.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 28.15% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alphabet from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $425.72.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded up $0.66 during trading on Thursday, reaching $351.16. The stock had a trading volume of 7,130,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,679,314. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.21. 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 has a 1-year low of $235.84 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $345.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 20.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 441,399 shares of company stock valued at $8,677,053. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,403,303,000 after acquiring an additional 12,718,127 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,394,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,208,470,000 after purchasing an additional 208,362 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,865,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457,371 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 29,166,806 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,129,210,000 after purchasing an additional 478,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.1% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,334,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631,721 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Needham reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $450 price target, implying substantial upside from current levels. Other market commentary also points to potential gains based on Alphabet’s cloud growth, profitability and relatively modest valuation. Needham rating and Alphabet stock information
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term power strategy: Google’s agreements with Constellation Energy cover roughly 3,590 megawatts of nuclear power through long-term contracts, including 890 megawatts of additional capacity. The deals could help Alphabet meet the electricity demands of AI data centers while improving visibility around future infrastructure planning. Google Constellation nuclear power deal
• Positive Sentiment: AI ecosystem expansion: Alphabet and Unity launched an AI-powered gaming platform that lets users create games with natural-language prompts. The initiative could expand Google’s developer and Google Play ecosystem, although it also increases competition with creator platforms such as Roblox. Google and Unity AI gaming partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Commerce integration: U.S. shoppers can buy eligible Newegg products directly through Gemini and Google Search’s AI Mode, providing evidence that Alphabet is beginning to monetize AI interfaces through commerce and transaction activity. Newegg Google Gemini commerce integration
• Neutral Sentiment: AI coding concerns: Commentary argues that Google has failed to fully capitalize on the AI coding boom despite Gemini and extensive resources. This highlights execution and competitive risks but does not represent a new financial result or formal guidance change. How Google missed the AI coding boom
• Negative Sentiment: Litigation overhang: Several law firms are promoting a securities class action tied to Alphabet’s earlier stock decline and alleged disclosure issues. The repeated notices may weigh on sentiment, although the immediate financial impact remains uncertain. Alphabet securities class action notice
• Negative Sentiment: Data-center permitting risk: Finland ordered Google to pause work on two data centers pending environmental impact assessments, underscoring regulatory and construction risks for Alphabet’s capital-intensive AI infrastructure buildout. Google Finland data-center halt

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology and internet services company best known as the parent company of Google. Its primary business, Google Services, includes online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a range of hardware and subscription products.

Alphabet also operates Google Cloud, which provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, productivity software, and artificial intelligence services to businesses, governments, and other organizations.