Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 target price (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $343.54 on Tuesday. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $196.60 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $354.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $340.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 540,470 shares of company stock worth $14,873,168 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004,828 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 period. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,259,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google said its Gemini app has surpassed one billion monthly active users, strengthening the case that Alphabet’s AI investments are gaining substantial consumer traction. Google’s Gemini app surges to one billion users
• Positive Sentiment: The Pixel 11 launch emphasized deeper Gemini integration across smartphones and the Pixel Watch, giving Alphabet additional avenues to distribute AI features and potentially support its hardware ecosystem. Google unveils Pixel 11 lineup
• Positive Sentiment: Ryanair signed a five-year Google Cloud partnership to deploy Gemini, DeepMind, Workspace, and Cloud services across its operations, providing evidence of enterprise demand for Alphabet’s AI products. Ryanair signs Google Cloud deal
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to highlight Google Cloud’s improving margins and Alphabet’s valuation as potential catalysts, while Alphabet’s disclosed SpaceX investment has generated an exceptionally large return.
• Neutral Sentiment: DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis reportedly discussed creating an AI-oversight body with other labs and U.S. officials. The initiative could improve industry governance but may also add compliance requirements. DeepMind’s Hassabis pitched AI-oversight body
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reorganizing its AI leadership, placing Gemini, frontier research, and the Gemini app under new DeepMind chief Koray Kavukcuoglu. The move signals urgency but creates execution and retention risk. Google’s new AI boss inherits a race
• Negative Sentiment: Prediction-market odds for a general-public Gemini Pro launch by August 14 fell sharply to 4%, raising concerns that Alphabet’s next flagship model may be delayed. Traders slash odds on imminent Gemini Pro launch
• Negative Sentiment: Nvidia’s proposed financing framework for as much as $500 billion in AI infrastructure could strengthen Nvidia’s position in custom chips and intensify competition for Alphabet’s cloud and AI hardware businesses. Alphabet’s stock slips as Nvidia financing threatens custom chips
• Negative Sentiment: Google raised Pixel 11 prices by $100 amid higher memory costs, potentially limiting demand and pressuring hardware margins. Alphabet stock slides as Google hikes Pixel 11 prices
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet remains exposed to more than 3,000 youth-addiction lawsuits, while Australian and French publishers are pursuing actions over Google’s AI summaries and their impact on traffic and advertising revenue.

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.