Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Wedbush

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price decreased by Wedbush from $445.00 to $387.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson set a $345.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $417.00 price target (up from $411.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Piper Sandler set a $345.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group set a $332.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $410.46.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

GOOGL stock opened at $279.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $339.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet has a one year low of $270.70 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The business had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 20.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 12,718,127 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,457,371 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,631,721 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,911,467,000 after buying an additional 1,139,400 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,900,078,000 after buying an additional 8,112,680 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $30.7 billion, while its backlog reached $561 billion. The results support Alphabet’s position as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Alphabet’s Cloud Business Just Doubled
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. Guggenheim and Needham reaffirmed “buy” ratings with $450 targets, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo retained bullish ratings and projected substantial upside despite lowering their targets.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI ecosystem could gain from rising demand for cloud capacity and specialized chips. Waymo is also expanding internationally through a partnership with Toyota, although the business remains small relative to Alphabet’s core operations. Waymo taps Toyota to supply robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple securities law firms publicized class-action lawsuits and lead-plaintiff deadlines tied to alleged disclosures about Alphabet’s Gemini AI development. These notices add headline risk, but their direct financial impact remains uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share, below consensus near $2.94-$3.02, while revenue of $127.6 billion also missed expectations. Search and other revenue grew about 12% to roughly $63 billion, but fell short of forecasts, reinforcing fears that AI-generated answers and “AI mode” searches may monetize less effectively than traditional Search.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending caused free cash flow to remain negative by roughly $9.1 billion for a second consecutive quarter. Investors are questioning whether the enormous capital outlays will produce adequate returns and whether Alphabet may need additional debt or equity financing.
• Negative Sentiment: An unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.55 per share, while an EU antitrust fine further pressured results. Analysts including RBC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wedbush, KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets, even though most maintained positive ratings.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.