Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $400.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC from $330.00 to $400.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 20.11% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on GOOGL. New Street Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 target price (up previously from $268.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $344.33.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $333.04 on Thursday. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $321.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $268.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,945,705.60. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 2,035,186 shares of company stock valued at $94,458,941 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 13.9% in the second quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 9,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 498.8% during the 2nd quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 10,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 8,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat: Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS and showed continued Google Cloud strength, supporting the company’s growth thesis. Google beats on revenue, projects significant AI spending increase
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise traction: new cloud/AI deals and customer deployments (e.g., Liberty Global partnership, Humana AI tools) validate Google Cloud monetization and long‑term AI revenue upside. Google Cloud, Liberty Global strike five-year AI partnership Humana Unveils AI-Powered Agent Assist Built With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo financing: a large private raise for Waymo reduces Alphabet’s near-term funding burden for autonomy and supports valuation optionality for non-core “Other Bets.” Waymo announces $16 billion fundraising round
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaction mixed but generally constructive — several firms nudged targets higher, which can support the stock but also amplify intraday volatility. Analysts set Google (GOOGL) stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube ad revenues and segment metrics are under close watch (Q4 YouTube ad figure reported), small misses would temper the ad growth narrative even as total revenue rose. YouTube ad revenue Q4 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets highlight Alphabet’s turnaround to AI leadership — positive for long-term positioning but raises execution expectations. Google pulls ahead in AI
• Negative Sentiment: Capex shock: management guided to roughly $175–$185 billion of 2026 capital spending to scale AI compute — the large, near-term capex ramp spooked investors and is the primary driver of the share pullback. Alphabet forecasts sharp surge in 2026 capital spending Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares fell in after-hours/premarket despite the beat as investors prioritized the spending outlook over the quarter’s results. Shares down premarket after earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal and operational risks: Waymo faces safety scrutiny and Alphabet agreed to a modest Android-related settlement; both add execution/regulatory uncertainties. Waymo to defend safety record Android data-transfer settlement
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and small shareholder sales were reported; while not large enough to change fundamentals, they can amplify short-term downward pressure. Insider sale by Amie Thuener O’Toole

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.