Erste Group Bank Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Stock analysts at Erste Group Bank lifted their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research note issued on Friday, September 18th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now forecasts that the information services provider will post earnings of $20.59 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $20.56. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $20.51 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Alphabet’s FY2027 earnings at $14.99 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $422.16.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $354.97 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. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $235.84 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $345.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $345.54. The company has a market cap of $4.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.22.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 450,875 shares of company stock valued at $11,984,482 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Premier Financial Group bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet introduced new Gemini voice-AI models, strengthening its push into conversational assistants and potentially expanding Gemini’s consumer and commercial use cases. Alphabet pushes deeper into voice AI with new Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Google opened pre-orders for its $899 Googlebook AI laptop, giving Alphabet a potential new hardware channel for Gemini adoption and AI-related revenue growth. Google’s $899 Googlebook is a bet that you’ll buy a new laptop for Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Google is lining up additional nuclear power for its AI infrastructure. Georgia Power agreed to upgrades at two nuclear plants that could add about 96 megawatts, while Kairos Power selected Samsung C&T to help build a 50-megawatt demonstration reactor targeted for completion by 2030. These arrangements could improve long-term access to reliable electricity, although the benefits are several years away. Southern Co unit signs deal with Google to add nuclear capacity
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst-related coverage remained supportive, including a higher fiscal-2026 EPS forecast from Erste Group Bank and continued investor interest in Alphabet’s multiple ways to monetize AI across Search, Cloud, and consumer products. Alphabet FY2026 EPS Forecast Increased by Erste Group Bank
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet, NVIDIA, and Emerald AI formed an alliance to develop power-flexible AI data centers. The initiative may help address grid constraints, but also highlights the substantial electricity and infrastructure requirements of Alphabet’s AI expansion.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google agreed to report child sexual-abuse material directly to Indian authorities, a compliance change that may improve regulatory relationships but adds to scrutiny of the company’s content-moderation practices. Google to report child abuse content directly to Indian authorities
• Negative Sentiment: Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Google €403 million, or approximately $463 million, over the processing of users’ location data. The penalty is manageable relative to Alphabet’s scale but raises ongoing regulatory, privacy, and potential compliance-cost concerns. Irish regulator fines Google €403 million over location data processing

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet’s largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.