Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded at DZ Bank

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was upgraded by research analysts at DZ Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $319.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $362.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $338.74. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $187.82 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet will post 14.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q2 results showed strong underlying demand, including an 82% surge in Google Cloud revenue and continued growth in Search and YouTube, reinforcing that its core businesses are still expanding. Google Cloud CEO Kurian says customers are spending 50% more as segment blows away expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Barclays argued that a TPU-as-a-service offering could materially lift Alphabet’s long-term profitability, suggesting the market may be underestimating future AI monetization. TPU-As-A-Service could boost Google’s 2028 profit by over 15%: Barclays
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a more than $1 billion dark-fiber deal to support Google’s data centers, underscoring ongoing infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s AI and cloud expansion. Verizon signs deal with Google worth over $1 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet was included in a momentum screen highlighting stocks with strong earnings and favorable price trends, which is supportive but not a major stock-specific catalyst. 3 High-Momentum Stocks to Buy Now Before They Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position, so this does not appear to be a major driver of the move.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried that Alphabet’s AI spending is becoming too large, with the company increasing 2026 capex guidance and reporting negative free cash flow for the first time in years. Alphabet earnings takeaways: Q2 revenue beats, GOOGL stock sinks on 2026 capex hike
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faced fresh regulatory pressure after the European Commission fined Google about $1 billion under the Digital Markets Act. Google hit with $1 billion EU fine, first under landmark rules
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo reportedly may try to end its partnership with Uber, which could create uncertainty around one of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving distribution channels. Waymo reportedly mulling a breakup with Uber

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.