Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Truist Financial

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target trimmed by Truist Financial from $420.00 to $410.00 in a report published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the information services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Citizens Jmp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $515.00 to $450.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $410.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $279.84 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $339.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.79. Alphabet has a 52 week low of $270.70 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet will post 20.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Titleist Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the third quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 34,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.6% in the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 43,733 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Nwam LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 19.6% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 49,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,127,000 after purchasing an additional 8,055 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 287.4% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,063,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $30.7 billion, while its backlog reached $561 billion. The results support Alphabet’s position as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Alphabet’s Cloud Business Just Doubled
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. Guggenheim and Needham reaffirmed “buy” ratings with $450 targets, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo retained bullish ratings and projected substantial upside despite lowering their targets.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI ecosystem could gain from rising demand for cloud capacity and specialized chips. Waymo is also expanding internationally through a partnership with Toyota, although the business remains small relative to Alphabet’s core operations. Waymo taps Toyota to supply robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple securities law firms publicized class-action lawsuits and lead-plaintiff deadlines tied to alleged disclosures about Alphabet’s Gemini AI development. These notices add headline risk, but their direct financial impact remains uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share, below consensus near $2.94-$3.02, while revenue of $127.6 billion also missed expectations. Search and other revenue grew about 12% to roughly $63 billion, but fell short of forecasts, reinforcing fears that AI-generated answers and “AI mode” searches may monetize less effectively than traditional Search.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending caused free cash flow to remain negative by roughly $9.1 billion for a second consecutive quarter. Investors are questioning whether the enormous capital outlays will produce adequate returns and whether Alphabet may need additional debt or equity financing.
• Negative Sentiment: An unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.55 per share, while an EU antitrust fine further pressured results. Analysts including RBC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wedbush, KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets, even though most maintained positive ratings.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.