Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given Buy Rating at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reissued their buy rating on shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $395.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $346.00.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Argus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $331.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $269.25. 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 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 36.21%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,035,186 shares of company stock worth $94,458,941 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reported another beat: Q4 EPS and revenue topped estimates, Google Cloud grew ~48% Y/Y and annual revenue exceeded $400B—clear fundamental drivers for longer‑term growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the results, supporting upside case (examples include Deutsche Bank, RBC, Needham and others). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction for AI and subscriptions continues (Gemini user metrics, YouTube/Google One paid subs), reinforcing monetization of AI investments over time. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced a small quarterly dividend ($0.21/share)—signal of returning capital but limited near‑term impact on valuation. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling (CAO sold ~933 shares) and mixed analyst notes (some neutral ratings) create potential short‑term noise; institutional positioning remains large. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The 2026 capex outlook—$175B–$185B—shocked markets; investors fear near‑term margin/earnings dilution and a multi‑year heavy cash outflow, prompting an after‑hours/pre‑market selloff. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares fell sharply in pre‑market/early trading as tech indexes pulled back, reflecting short‑term risk aversion to large AI spending even as fundamentals remain solid. Read More.

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.