Royal Bank Of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target reduced by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $425.00 to $400.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 41.73% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $465.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $412.82.

Alphabet Trading Down 13.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $42.67 on Thursday, reaching $282.22. 105,528,940 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,804,580. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $270.70 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 14.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $341.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet will post 20.60 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,403,303,000 after acquiring an additional 12,718,127 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,865,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457,371 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631,721 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,911,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,400 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,900,078,000 after purchasing an additional 8,112,680 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud delivered exceptional growth. Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $31 billion, while cloud profit roughly tripled. The results suggest strong demand for Alphabet’s AI infrastructure and services. Alphabet’s heavy cloud spending drives bigger-than-expected cash burn
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding its AI opportunity. OpenAI reportedly plans to use Google’s internally developed TPU chips, and Alphabet is making those chips available to outside customers through cloud partners. This could create a new revenue stream and reduce reliance on Nvidia hardware. Google alters cloud playbook, enlisting partners to sell more AI chips
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain divided. Several firms lowered price targets following the report, although many retained Buy or Outperform ratings. Guggenheim and Needham maintained $450 targets, while DA Davidson downgraded the stock to Neutral with a $300 target. What analysts are saying about Alphabet after earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet missed quarterly expectations. Adjusted earnings were $2.12 per share versus consensus of roughly $3.02, while revenue of $127.58 billion was slightly below forecasts. Net income also fell year over year, partly reflecting an unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment and an EU antitrust fine. Alphabet earnings miss reflects first real sign that AI is taking a bite out of search
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment is weighing heavily on cash flow. Alphabet spent roughly $9 billion more cash than it generated during the quarter as it expanded data-center capacity and funded AI development. Investors are concerned that returns on this spending may take longer to materialize than expected. Alphabet falls 10% in premarket, putting it on course for its biggest ever post-earnings drop
• Negative Sentiment: Search and advertising trends raised the central concern. Search revenue grew but missed estimates for a second consecutive quarter, while YouTube advertising revenue also fell short. Investors fear AI-generated answers and agents could shift usage toward lower-monetized formats; Alphabet has acknowledged that AI search currently generates less revenue per query than conventional search. Google is set for a $400 billion stock wipeout after disappointing earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Additional legal and regulatory risks add pressure. Alphabet faces new investor securities lawsuits related to alleged disclosures about Gemini development, while South Korea fined Google over app-store practices and Finland opened an environmental investigation involving a planned data center. Alphabet investor class action lawsuit

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.