Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $400.00 price objective on the information services provider’s stock.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $302.28 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $319.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.23. Alphabet has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

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.