Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded by Raymond James Financial to “Strong-Buy” Rating

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

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $343.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $330.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $340.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $314.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $258.45.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 189,909 shares of company stock worth $57,927,282 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Members Trust Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,728 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management raised its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 1,155 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MRA Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 1,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

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.