Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25, Zacks reports. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $333.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s fifty day moving average is $321.32 and its 200 day moving average is $268.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,163,524.48. This represents a 2.75% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,035,186 shares of company stock valued at $94,458,941. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 23,402.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,487,419,000 after buying an additional 6,092,513 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.0% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,904,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,971,683,000 after acquiring an additional 3,663,832 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. China Renaissance increased their price objective on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. CIBC boosted their target price on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.35.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat: Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS and showed continued Google Cloud strength, supporting the company’s growth thesis. Google beats on revenue, projects significant AI spending increase
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise traction: new cloud/AI deals and customer deployments (e.g., Liberty Global partnership, Humana AI tools) validate Google Cloud monetization and long?term AI revenue upside. Google Cloud, Liberty Global strike five-year AI partnership Humana Unveils AI-Powered Agent Assist Built With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo financing: a large private raise for Waymo reduces Alphabet’s near-term funding burden for autonomy and supports valuation optionality for non-core “Other Bets.” Waymo announces $16 billion fundraising round
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaction mixed but generally constructive — several firms nudged targets higher, which can support the stock but also amplify intraday volatility. Analysts set Google (GOOGL) stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube ad revenues and segment metrics are under close watch (Q4 YouTube ad figure reported), small misses would temper the ad growth narrative even as total revenue rose. YouTube ad revenue Q4 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets highlight Alphabet’s turnaround to AI leadership — positive for long-term positioning but raises execution expectations. Google pulls ahead in AI
• Negative Sentiment: Capex shock: management guided to roughly $175–$185 billion of 2026 capital spending to scale AI compute — the large, near-term capex ramp spooked investors and is the primary driver of the share pullback. Alphabet forecasts sharp surge in 2026 capital spending Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares fell in after-hours/premarket despite the beat as investors prioritized the spending outlook over the quarter’s results. Shares down premarket after earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal and operational risks: Waymo faces safety scrutiny and Alphabet agreed to a modest Android-related settlement; both add execution/regulatory uncertainties. Waymo to defend safety record Android data-transfer settlement
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and small shareholder sales were reported; while not large enough to change fundamentals, they can amplify short-term downward pressure. Insider sale by Amie Thuener O’Toole

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.