Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded by Phillip Securities to Strong-Buy Rating

Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a moderate buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on GOOGL. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank increased their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $326.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $361.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.98. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $187.82 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 17.59 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC now owns 20,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,329,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 18,694 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,681,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 3,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Lee Kelleher & Klein Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $302,000. Finally, Buska Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.7% in the second quarter. Buska Wealth Management LLC now owns 875 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts continue to support Alphabet’s AI strategy, with several firms maintaining bullish ratings despite trimming price targets to reflect heavier capital expenditures. Investors appear to view the pullback as a buying opportunity. GOOG stock rebounds as Wall Street continues to back AI strategy despite PT cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter performance exceeded expectations, including $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in adjusted earnings per share versus consensus of $117.07 billion and $2.89, respectively. Search demand and Google Cloud growth remain key areas of momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Alphabet’s biggest AI concern—whether its investments can generate meaningful demand and returns—may be easing. Cloud growth, enterprise adoption and early AI monetization support the case for continued investment. Forget AI Capex Concerns – Buy Alphabet After Excellent Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube reached a multiyear agreement to include NBCUniversal’s Peacock content in YouTube Premium subscriptions, potentially strengthening the platform’s entertainment offering and subscriber value beginning in 2027. NBCUniversal and YouTube ink deal to embed Peacock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Alphabet’s raised 2026 capital-spending forecast of approximately $195 billion to $205 billion. The spending should support AI data centers, Cloud capacity and future growth, but returns will depend on sustained demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly spent about $44.9 billion on AI-related investment during the quarter, producing negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company. The deterioration has intensified concerns about spending discipline and the risk that AI returns take longer than expected. Google spent $490 million a day on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks are not being rewarded for strong earnings, suggesting investors are scrutinizing valuations, capital intensity and future cash flow more closely. This limits the potential upside from Alphabet’s earnings beat.
• Negative Sentiment: A reported privacy issue involving publicly searchable Claude conversations and user-created files on Google search could create reputational or regulatory concerns, although the incident primarily involves Anthropic’s sharing controls. Claude shared chats and Artifacts found on Google

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.