Zacks Research Downgrades Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to Hold

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

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. President Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $343.54 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $196.60 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.94.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 540,470 shares of company stock valued at $14,873,168 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google said its Gemini app has surpassed one billion monthly active users, strengthening the case that Alphabet’s AI investments are gaining substantial consumer traction. Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users
• Positive Sentiment: The Pixel 11 launch emphasized deeper Gemini integration across smartphones and the Pixel Watch, giving Alphabet additional avenues to distribute AI features and potentially support its hardware ecosystem. Google unveils Pixel 11 lineup
• Positive Sentiment: Ryanair signed a five-year Google Cloud partnership to deploy Gemini, DeepMind, Workspace, and Cloud services across its operations, providing evidence of enterprise demand for Alphabet’s AI products. Ryanair signs Google Cloud deal
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to highlight Google Cloud’s improving margins and Alphabet’s valuation as potential catalysts, while Alphabet’s disclosed SpaceX investment has generated an exceptionally large return.
• Neutral Sentiment: DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis reportedly discussed creating an AI-oversight body with other labs and U.S. officials. The initiative could improve industry governance but may also add compliance requirements. DeepMind’s Hassabis pitched AI-oversight body
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reorganizing its AI leadership, placing Gemini, frontier research, and the Gemini app under new DeepMind chief Koray Kavukcuoglu. The move signals urgency but creates execution and retention risk. Google’s new AI boss inherits a race
• Negative Sentiment: Prediction-market odds for a general-public Gemini Pro launch by August 14 fell sharply to 4%, raising concerns that Alphabet’s next flagship model may be delayed. Traders slash odds on imminent Gemini Pro launch
• Negative Sentiment: Nvidia’s proposed financing framework for as much as $500 billion in AI infrastructure could strengthen Nvidia’s position in custom chips and intensify competition for Alphabet’s cloud and AI hardware businesses. Alphabet’s stock slips as Nvidia financing threatens custom chips
• Negative Sentiment: Google raised Pixel 11 prices by $100 amid higher memory costs, potentially limiting demand and pressuring hardware margins. Alphabet stock slides as Google hikes Pixel 11 prices
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet remains exposed to more than 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits, while Australian and French publishers are pursuing actions over Google’s AI summaries and their impact on traffic and advertising revenue.

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.