FY2026 EPS Estimates for Alphabet Raised by Erste Group Bank

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Research analysts at Erste Group Bank boosted their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Monday, July 27th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $20.50 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $14.27. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $20.15 per share.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9%

GOOGL stock opened at $336.71 on Thursday. Alphabet has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $359.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.14. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 600,465 shares of company stock valued at $16,228,202 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.42%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is improving. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet, while KeyCorp maintained an “Overweight” rating and a $445 price target. KeyCorp also sharply raised its 2026 EPS forecast, and Erste Group increased its 2027 estimate. Alphabet analyst upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s latest quarter remained fundamentally strong: revenue increased 24% to $119.8 billion, earnings substantially exceeded estimates, search revenue grew 17%, and Google Cloud growth accelerated to 82%. The results support the view that AI is strengthening—not yet materially damaging—the company’s advertising and cloud businesses. Alphabet quarterly results analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also focused on potential new growth from Alphabet’s internally developed AI chips, which could begin generating external revenue by year-end. Google’s expansion of age-assurance tools for Android developers and progress restoring Waymo freeway service provide additional, though smaller, strategic positives. Alphabet AI silicon opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent insider activity shows Marsida Saraci selling 449 shares worth about $150,000, while major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv disclosed several sales. The transactions may weigh modestly on sentiment, but they represent a small portion of ongoing holdings and are not conclusive evidence of weaker business prospects. Alphabet insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: The principal overhang is Alphabet’s raised 2026 capital-expenditure outlook of $195 billion to $205 billion. Heavy server investment could pressure free cash flow and increase depreciation beginning in 2027, intensifying doubts about whether AI returns will justify the spending. Alphabet capital spending outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faces risks from lower-cost AI models, potential European damages claims following an antitrust ruling, and reported restructuring within Google DeepMind. These concerns help explain why the stock has declined from its high despite excellent operating results.

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.