Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Buy by Needham & Company LLC

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $450.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 28.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $425.72.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock traded up $0.76 during trading on Thursday, reaching $351.26. 6,874,782 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,679,314. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $345.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $348.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $235.84 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the sale, the director owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 441,399 shares of company stock worth $8,677,053. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,394,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,208,470,000 after acquiring an additional 208,362 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,865,809,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457,371 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 29,166,806 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,129,210,000 after acquiring an additional 478,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,631,721 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

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.