Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Lowered to Hold Rating by Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $320.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $329.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $322.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $312.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.45. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $340.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 189,909 shares of company stock valued at $57,927,282 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised targets — Deutsche Bank boosted its price target to $370 and kept a buy rating, and Robert W. Baird raised its target to $350 with an outperform rating. These lifts signal continued analyst confidence and create upside support for the stock. Deutsche Bank Raises Target Baird Raises Target
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI momentum — reports show a surge in sales of Google’s Gemini AI models, which supports revenue growth from higher-margin AI services and strengthens the company’s competitive AI positioning. Gemini Sales Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Google-backed drug discovery timeline pushed — Isomorphic Labs now expects first clinical trials by end?2026. This delays any near-term biotech upside tied to Alphabet’s life?sciences investments but has limited impact on core ad/cloud businesses. Isomorphic Labs Delay
• Neutral Sentiment: Product development coverage — media pieces on Google’s new AI?powered smart glasses and long-term cloud/AI revenue narratives reiterate growth potential but are not immediate catalysts. AI Smart Glasses Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Sector risk-off pressured shares — escalating geopolitical/tariff rhetoric (Greenland tensions) triggered a tech-led sell-off that weighed on Alphabet along with peers; market positioning and broader risk sentiment are the main short-term drivers of the decline. Tech Sell-off / Greenland Tensions
• Negative Sentiment: Price action noted by market coverage — headlines point out Alphabet fell more than the broader market today, reflecting both the sector pullback and profit?taking after recent gains. That media focus can amplify short?term selling pressure. Zacks: Why GOOGL Fell

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.