Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Receives Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.65.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded down $2.65 on Wednesday, reaching $385.01. The company had a trading volume of 7,576,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,475,125. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $333.00 and a 200-day moving average of $319.32. Alphabet has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total transaction of $37,842.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,908,391. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 over the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norris Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $3,782,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 56.1% in the 1st quarter. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,347 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares during the period. Orographic Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter worth approximately $2,997,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.3% during the first quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 187,453 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,904,000 after purchasing an additional 12,737 shares during the period. Finally, Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 45,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,061,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Needham reaffirmed its buy rating on Alphabet and set a $450 price target, signaling continued upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI cloud venture built around Google’s TPUs, a move that could boost AI infrastructure revenue and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position. Thales inks deal with Google for homegrown German cloud provider
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the view that Alphabet is monetizing AI at scale rather than merely defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remained constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed some insider selling, including a director sale, but the transactions appear routine and are not a strong fundamental signal on their own. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are wary that Google’s AI-heavy Search redesign could disrupt its core ad model, as the long-standing “ten blue links” format gives way to more AI-generated answers. Google Search as you know it is over

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.