Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) had its target price lifted by Bank of America from $335.00 to $370.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.
A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price objective (up previously from $320.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 5th. New Street Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. China Renaissance raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.31.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 189,909 shares of company stock valued at $57,927,282 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Major distribution and monetization wins: Apple and other device makers are integrating Google’s Gemini/AI into core products (Gemini-powered Siri / Personal Intelligence), validating Alphabet’s AI lead and creating a potential licensing revenue stream. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Runs Hot Google launches Personal Intelligence feature in Gemini app, challenging Apple Intelligence
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Recent upgrades and a higher price target (Bank of America bumped its GOOGL target) and a consensus “Moderate Buy” view are backing sentiment and likely propped the earlier run-up. Bank of America Boosts Alphabet Price Target
- Neutral Sentiment: AI race context — competitive but manageable: DeepMind’s CEO says Chinese models are “months” behind Western leaders, supporting Alphabet’s technological edge, while market commentary shifts from speculative hype to more disciplined AI growth assumptions. China just ‘months’ behind U.S. AI models, Google DeepMind CEO says AI Stocks: Speculative Hype or Disciplined Growth?
- Negative Sentiment: Copyright litigation risk: Major publishers have asked to join a class action alleging Google used copyrighted material to train AI — potential legal costs, injunction risk or licensing liabilities could weigh on margins and sentiment. Publishers seek to join lawsuit against Google over AI training
- Negative Sentiment: Infrastructure and energy bottlenecks: Google warns U.S. transmission constraints are making it harder and slower to connect data centers, which could raise capex, slow capacity expansion for cloud/AI workloads, and compress near-term margin improvement. Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge for connecting data centers
- Negative Sentiment: Regulatory & reputational pressure: Advocacy groups are urging app-store removals of X/Grok, and broader regulatory scrutiny of AI content and distribution remains a continuing risk for platform operators. Women’s, advocacy groups call on Apple, Google to drop X and Grok from app stores
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.
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