Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target Raised to $490.00 at Loop Capital

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Loop Capital from $355.00 to $490.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Loop Capital’s price objective points to a potential upside of 23.29% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Alphabet from $357.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $410.84.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Alphabet stock traded down $3.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $397.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,064,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,556,990. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $327.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $316.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $403.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.36, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total transaction of $37,842.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,908,391. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 157,953 shares of company stock valued at $47,767,818 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Erste Group Bank raised Alphabet’s earnings estimates for FY2026 and FY2027, reinforcing the view that profits can keep growing ahead of current consensus.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent pieces highlight Alphabet as a beneficiary of AI spending, including continued strength in its cloud/AI investment plans and speculation that the company is well positioned in the next phase of AI infrastructure buildout.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm is also being supported by reports that YouTube revenue may be larger than Wall Street expected, adding to confidence in Google’s core advertising and video monetization engine.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also completed a record-breaking yen bond issuance, giving it fresh capital to fund AI infrastructure while diversifying its funding sources, which is generally viewed favorably by investors. Alphabet completes record-breaking yen bond issuance
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS warned that AI and mega-cap tech stocks are heavily crowded trades, which could mean Alphabet’s valuation is vulnerable if investor expectations cool.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary also points to Alphabet’s stock trading at a richer multiple after a powerful run, so the market may be rewarding execution but leaving less room for error.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader concerns about the cost of AI compute and the capital intensity of the race could pressure margins across big tech, including Alphabet, if spending rises faster than monetization.

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.