Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had its price target increased by research analysts at Wedbush from $360.00 to $370.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the information services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.10% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on GOOGL. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $268.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $344.33.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $333.04 on Thursday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.82. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Research analysts predict that Alphabet will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,035,186 shares of company stock worth $94,458,941 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat: Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected revenue and EPS and showed continued Google Cloud strength, supporting the company’s growth thesis. Google beats on revenue, projects significant AI spending increase
• Positive Sentiment: Enterprise traction: new cloud/AI deals and customer deployments (e.g., Liberty Global partnership, Humana AI tools) validate Google Cloud monetization and long‑term AI revenue upside. Google Cloud, Liberty Global strike five-year AI partnership Humana Unveils AI-Powered Agent Assist Built With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo financing: a large private raise for Waymo reduces Alphabet’s near-term funding burden for autonomy and supports valuation optionality for non-core “Other Bets.” Waymo announces $16 billion fundraising round
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reaction mixed but generally constructive — several firms nudged targets higher, which can support the stock but also amplify intraday volatility. Analysts set Google (GOOGL) stock price target
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube ad revenues and segment metrics are under close watch (Q4 YouTube ad figure reported), small misses would temper the ad growth narrative even as total revenue rose. YouTube ad revenue Q4 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters and other outlets highlight Alphabet’s turnaround to AI leadership — positive for long-term positioning but raises execution expectations. Google pulls ahead in AI
• Negative Sentiment: Capex shock: management guided to roughly $175–$185 billion of 2026 capital spending to scale AI compute — the large, near-term capex ramp spooked investors and is the primary driver of the share pullback. Alphabet forecasts sharp surge in 2026 capital spending Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares fell in after-hours/premarket despite the beat as investors prioritized the spending outlook over the quarter’s results. Shares down premarket after earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal and operational risks: Waymo faces safety scrutiny and Alphabet agreed to a modest Android-related settlement; both add execution/regulatory uncertainties. Waymo to defend safety record Android data-transfer settlement
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and small shareholder sales were reported; while not large enough to change fundamentals, they can amplify short-term downward pressure. Insider sale by Amie Thuener O’Toole

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.