Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Upgraded at Freedom Capital

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Freedom Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

GOOGL has been the topic of several other research reports. New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. President Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $319.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $362.93 and its 200-day moving average is $338.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 14.34 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after buying an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 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’s Q2 results showed strong underlying demand, including an 82% surge in Google Cloud revenue and continued growth in Search and YouTube, reinforcing that its core businesses are still expanding. Google Cloud CEO Kurian says customers are spending 50% more as segment blows away expectations
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts at Barclays argued that a TPU-as-a-service offering could materially lift Alphabet’s long-term profitability, suggesting the market may be underestimating future AI monetization. TPU-As-A-Service could boost Google’s 2028 profit by over 15%: Barclays
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a more than $1 billion dark-fiber deal to support Google’s data centers, underscoring ongoing infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s AI and cloud expansion. Verizon signs deal with Google worth over $1 billion
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet was included in a momentum screen highlighting stocks with strong earnings and favorable price trends, which is supportive but not a major stock-specific catalyst. 3 High-Momentum Stocks to Buy Now Before They Surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position, so this does not appear to be a major driver of the move.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are worried that Alphabet’s AI spending is becoming too large, with the company increasing 2026 capex guidance and reporting negative free cash flow for the first time in years. Alphabet earnings takeaways: Q2 revenue beats, GOOGL stock sinks on 2026 capex hike
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faced fresh regulatory pressure after the European Commission fined Google about $1 billion under the Digital Markets Act. Google hit with $1 billion EU fine, first under landmark rules
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo reportedly may try to end its partnership with Uber, which could create uncertainty around one of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving distribution channels. Waymo reportedly mulling a breakup with Uber

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.