Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1.6% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price shot up 1.6% on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $343.00 to $350.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $307.25 and last traded at $307.16. 59,255,485 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 61% from the average session volume of 36,765,758 shares. The stock had previously closed at $302.46.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. CIBC lifted their price objective on Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $343.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total transaction of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock worth $63,183,331. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Largest recent catalyst — Google Cloud landed an expanded, multibillion-dollar security-services deal with Palo Alto Networks (reported as approaching $10B), which boosts cloud revenue visibility and validates Google Cloud’s enterprise traction. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade — Citigroup raised its price target to $350 and maintained a buy rating, implying meaningful upside versus recent levels and likely supporting buying interest. Citigroup adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Hidden upside from investments — Coverage highlighting a potential SpaceX IPO underscores a material unrealized gain on Alphabet’s SpaceX stake, which would be a large one‑time valuation catalyst if realized. Why a SpaceX IPO Could Be a Major Catalyst for GOOGL Stock
• Positive Sentiment: AI hiring momentum — CNBC reports ~20% of Google’s 2025 AI engineer hires were “boomerang” ex-employees, a sign Google is successfully competing for scarce AI talent which supports product and model development momentum. Google’s boomerang year: 20% of AI software engineers hired in 2025 were ex-employees
• Positive Sentiment: Content & user engagement win — The Oscars moving to YouTube (long-term) reinforces YouTube’s strategic content upside and ad monetization tailwinds. The Oscars Shift to YouTube-Only Streaming Starting in 2029
• Neutral Sentiment: Market attention / thematic coverage — Zacks and other outlets list Alphabet among trending and key cloud names for 2026; these pieces raise visibility but are not immediate fundamentals movers. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Is a Trending Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure — Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions, a regulatory action that could create compliance costs and local revenue/partner impacts. Mexico’s antitrust commission resolves Android competition case
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy/legal risk — A Spanish consumer group has launched preliminary legal action alleging improper collection of sensitive personal data, adding to ongoing privacy litigation risk in Europe. Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — Recent filings show CEO and senior officers sold blocks of shares this week; while such sales can be routine diversification, they may weigh on sentiment short term. Sundar Pichai insider sale filing (SEC)

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in Alphabet by 28.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $287.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $232.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

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.