Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Price Target Raised to $440.00

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price objective hoisted by Roth Capital from $435.00 to $440.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Roth Capital currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson cut their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $410.09.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $319.09 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 12 month low of $188.70 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $360.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $337.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 17.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after buying an additional 953,790 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after buying an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after buying an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet posted a strong Q2 beat, with revenue and EPS coming in ahead of expectations, while Google Cloud revenue surged 82% and cloud margins improved sharply.
• Positive Sentiment: AI and product demand remain strong, with management saying AI usage is rising across Search, Cloud, and Gemini, supporting the long-term growth story.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish views or raised targets, and multiple commentary pieces argued the stock looks attractive after the pullback.
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a deal worth more than $1 billion with Google for dark fiber connectivity, adding another sign of infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s data-center buildout. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo is reportedly considering ending its Uber partnership, which could affect how quickly Alphabet’s robotaxi business scales, but the direct financial impact is still unclear. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also disclosed a large SpaceX stake and saw some institutional holders trim positions, but these items are secondary to the main debate over AI spending and cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were unnerved by Alphabet’s higher CapEx guidance and negative free cash flow, which raised concerns that AI spending may be outpacing near-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet was also hit by an EU antitrust fine of about $1 billion, adding another regulatory overhang. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Moody’s warned that the industry-wide AI buildout could threaten credit quality at Alphabet and other hyperscalers, reinforcing concerns about balance-sheet strain from heavy infrastructure investment. Article Title

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.