Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, KeyCorp Analyst Says

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at KeyCorp from $425.00 to $445.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the information services provider’s stock. KeyCorp’s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.99% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.92.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $358.89 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $372.47 and its 200 day moving average is $336.30. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $174.38 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is drawing bullish attention from analysts and investors after its strong recent earnings, with commentary pointing to about 10% upside and continued confidence in the stock’s long-term AI and cloud growth story.
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles highlighted Alphabet’s AI advantage, noting its broad distribution across Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and custom chips as a key reason it can turn AI spending into profits.
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo’s plan to expand driverless rides into four more major cities adds another sign that Alphabet’s “other bets” are scaling and could create additional long-term value.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Search also posted record queries during World Cup activity, underscoring that core search usage remains extremely strong even as AI competition intensifies.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was included in coverage of stocks benefiting from massive AI infrastructure spending, reflecting optimism that cloud and data-center demand will continue supporting growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google will now disclose which ads were created with AI, a transparency move that may help users and regulators but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet received a “Moderate Buy” average rating from brokerages, suggesting Wall Street remains constructive but not aggressively bullish.
• Negative Sentiment: Britain designated Google and other cloud providers as “critical third parties,” placing them under direct regulatory oversight to protect financial stability, which could increase compliance burden and scrutiny.
• Negative Sentiment: Google is appealing an Indian court ruling over its ads platform, creating another legal and regulatory overhang for its advertising business.

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.