Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $350.00 to $355.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Alphabet traded as high as $341.20 and last traded at $336.43, with a volume of 24551323 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $332.73.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on GOOG. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $318.36.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,706,357.25. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This trade represents a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 192,087 shares of company stock valued at $58,525,556 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple deal and $4T milestone reinforce AI leadership and potential recurring licensing revenue (analysts estimate ~ $1B/year), widening Gemini’s distribution across Apple devices and validating Alphabet’s monetization path. Alphabet reaches $4 trillion valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched “Personal Intelligence” in the Gemini app (beta), a feature that integrates user data across apps to deliver more personalized answers — a product lever that could boost engagement, search/ad relevance and paid AI services over time. Google Personal Intelligence launch
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street momentum: several bullish takes and price-target raises (including analyst upgrades and high-profile bulls like Jim Cramer) are supporting investor demand and helping push shares to record levels. This fuels momentum-driven buying and options activity. Analysts see AI-fueled upside
• Neutral Sentiment: Reputational/regulatory pressure — advocacy groups urged Apple and Google to remove X and Grok from app stores; this raises content-moderation scrutiny but is unlikely to hit Alphabet’s core revenue near term. Advocacy groups call on app stores to drop X and Grok
• Negative Sentiment: Grid/connectivity bottlenecks for U.S. transmission are delaying data‑center hookups in some regions (waits >10 years in spots). That constraint can slow Google Cloud capacity expansion, raise capital and operating costs (on-site generation, storage), and cap near-term cloud growth if not addressed. Grid is biggest challenge for connecting data centers
• Positive Sentiment: Supply-chain/manufacturing move — reports Google will develop/high-end smartphones in Vietnam, which could lower device costs and broaden hardware strategy tied to its ecosystem and Gemini distribution. Google to develop and manufacture smartphones in Vietnam

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Centurion Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Centurion Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after buying an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 11,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 15,576 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,888,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,368 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,833,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $310.07 and a 200-day moving average of $253.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.17, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.