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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) had its price objective upped by Piper Sandler from $395.00 to $400.00 in a research report released on Monday morning. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GOOG. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson cut their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. HSBC set a $515.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.93.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $340.74 on Monday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $236.68 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $341.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $345.13. The company has a market cap of $4.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 20.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total value of $27,692.22. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,414,801.45. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 441,316 shares of company stock valued at $8,648,795. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,352,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $18,093,665,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Alphabet by 76.1% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,581,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,182,952,000 after purchasing an additional 6,300,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 190,923,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,458,980,000 after purchasing an additional 5,208,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gemini 4 Argon strengthens Alphabet’s AI narrative. The model is designed for coding, research, writing, cybersecurity and other complex professional tasks. Early reports characterize it as competitive with leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic, helping ease concerns that Google had fallen behind in frontier AI. The initial rollout to cybersecurity organizations also highlights a potentially valuable enterprise use case. Google releases Gemini 4 Argon
• Positive Sentiment: AI and cloud growth remain important upside drivers. Analysts continue to point to momentum in Google Search, YouTube, subscriptions and Google Cloud, while Alphabet’s proprietary TPU chips could improve the economics of AI services. Reports also cited Google’s participation in a White House AI safety accord, which may support regulatory credibility and investor confidence. Alphabet rides on Google Services growth
• Positive Sentiment: Market conditions also supported large-cap technology stocks. Softer inflation sentiment improved risk appetite, while Alphabet’s stock found technical support near its longer-term moving averages. Analysts remain broadly constructive, with recent reports citing median price targets materially above current levels.
• Neutral Sentiment: The Gemini launch follows delays and heightened expectations. Although Argon’s release improves Alphabet’s competitive positioning, its limited initial availability means investors will need evidence of broad adoption, revenue generation and sustained performance before the launch materially changes earnings forecasts. Google announces Gemini 4 flagship AI model
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulatory litigation remains an overhang. Google is asking an EU court to suspend orders requiring it to share search data with AI and search rivals. A loss could weaken Alphabet’s control over its search ecosystem, increase compliance costs and benefit competitors, although the appeal may delay the immediate impact. Google asks EU court to suspend order
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to monitor AI spending and execution risk. Alphabet’s heavy data-center and AI-chip investments are reducing free-cash-flow conversion, raising questions about whether future AI revenue will justify the capital expenditure. Reports of internal skepticism about Gemini 4 performance also briefly limited enthusiasm.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. Established in 2015 through a corporate restructuring, Alphabet oversees Google and a collection of businesses focused on technology, innovation and emerging industries. Sundar Pichai serves as Alphabet’s chief executive officer and also leads Google.

Google is Alphabet’s primary business and operates an internet ecosystem that includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.