Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $340.67 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $199.43 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $352.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $341.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $410 price target, implying substantial upside from the reference price. The bullish view reflects confidence in Alphabet’s AI growth and earnings outlook. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded custom-chip partnership with Marvell Technology strengthens its AI supply chain and reduces reliance on Broadcom. Marvell granted Google a warrant for up to 58.97 million shares, with most of the warrant vesting as Marvell generates as much as $120 billion in cumulative purchases from Google through 2033. The structure signals potentially significant long-term AI infrastructure spending, although the maximum commitment is not guaranteed. Google’s Marvell Warrant Doesn’t Fully Vest Until Google Buys $120 Billion of Chips
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo opened its lower-cost next-generation robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco, supporting Alphabet’s effort to scale a potentially valuable autonomous-vehicle business. Waymo’s cheaper, next-gen robotaxi is now open to all riders in these three cities
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s continued ownership and increased exposure to Alphabet provide a high-profile vote of confidence in the company’s AI positioning and long-term prospects. Berkshire Hathaway Just Bought More of This Brilliant Artificial Intelligence Stock

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.