Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Given New $445.00 Price Target at KeyCorp

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its target price boosted by KeyCorp from $425.00 to $445.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the information services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. China Renaissance raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.92.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $1.71 on Friday, hitting $357.18. The stock had a trading volume of 18,122,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $372.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.44. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $176.48 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’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 value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

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.