Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.19.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $358.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s 50 day moving average is $369.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $334.74. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $173.88 and a 52 week high of $404.47. The company has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from the AI infrastructure spending boom, with analysts highlighting Google Cloud, data centers, and AI hardware demand as growth drivers for the company. 3 Top-Ranked Stocks Riding on Massive AI Infrastructure Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google Search saw record query traffic during the World Cup, reinforcing the strength of its core search business and ad engine. World Cup drives Google Search to record queries per second
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to expand driverless rides to four more major cities this year, which could strengthen Alphabet’s optionality beyond advertising and cloud. Waymo Plans to Expand Driverless Cars to 4 More Major Cities This Year
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles argue Alphabet remains attractively valued versus other Magnificent 7 names, with some investors seeing the stock as a better long-term AI compounder. Magnificent 7 stocks are now at their cheapest in about 10 years
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s lobbying disclosure shows continued spending on AI, privacy, cybersecurity, and energy policy issues, indicating active regulatory engagement rather than a direct business catalyst. Lobbying Update: $50,000 of GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES LLC lobbying was just disclosed
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s appeals of an Indian trademark/ads ruling could create legal overhang, but the company argues the decision would also harm consumers by limiting keyword advertising competition. Google appeals Indian ruling over its ads platform, citing consumer harm
• Negative Sentiment: Some market commentary points to a “massive bill” in Alphabet’s Q2 results, which could be pressuring sentiment around margins and earnings quality. Alphabet’s Q2 Includes A Massive Bill Nobody’s Talking About

About Alphabet

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.