Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James Financial

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Raymond James Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $350.00 target price (up previously from $268.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 12th. Melius Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Citic Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

GOOGL stock opened at $330.52 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $314.62 and its 200 day moving average is $258.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $340.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 189,909 shares of company stock worth $57,927,282. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares during 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 valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. 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: Multiple Wall Street shops increased ratings and targets and overall coverage turned more bullish — firms have moved from Buy/Outperform to Strong Buy in some cases, supporting upside expectations. Wall Street sets Google stock price for next 12 months
• Positive Sentiment: Raymond James raised its price target to $400, giving investors a high?profile firm backing a materially higher valuation tied to AI upside. Alphabet Stock Rises — Raymond James Hikes Price Target to $400
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic AI wins broaden distribution: coverage notes that Apple will use Google’s Gemini models (a major distribution win for Alphabet’s AI stack), which supports durable monetization and moat arguments. Google Stock Is Up 65%: What’s Driving This Rally?
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo continues commercial expansion with a robotaxi rollout in Miami, showing progress on autonomous?driving commercialization that could become a long?term revenue/market opportunity. Waymo launches robotaxi service in Miami, extending U.S. lead
• Neutral Sentiment: Short?term technicals show a modest pullback from record highs and consolidation near support; analysts note valuation (P/E in low?30s) is elevated versus some peers, so some investors may wait for a deeper retracement before adding exposure.
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube leadership flagged content moderation for AI?generated material as a priority — operationally important but expected, and not an immediate earnings driver. YouTube chief says ‘managing AI slop’ is a priority for 2026
• Negative Sentiment: A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google search to proceed, keeping regulatory and legal risk alive — this could mean multi?year litigation exposure and continued investor caution on potential remedies or fines. Judge Orders Google to Face Consumer Antitrust Lawsuit Over Search

Alphabet Company Profile

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.