Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $450.00 price target on the information services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 16.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Argus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $411.23.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $387.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $333.00 and a 200-day moving average of $319.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total value of $37,842.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,908,391. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

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

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI cloud joint venture built around Google’s TPUs, expanding Alphabet’s role in AI infrastructure and chip monetization. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased major AI upgrades across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, supporting the bull case for Alphabet’s AI monetization. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Arete Research lifted its price target on Alphabet to $425 and reiterated a buy rating, reflecting continued analyst confidence. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, showing its AI products are already operating at scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider sales by a director and a major shareholder; notable, but not necessarily a meaningful warning sign on its own. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are wary that Alphabet’s AI-led Search redesign could pressure its legacy ad model over time as the “ten blue links” format fades. Google Search as you know it is over
• Negative Sentiment: Broader big-tech weakness and market-wide profit-taking are also weighing on Alphabet shares today. Magnificent 7 wipes $273 billion in a day as big tech sell-off continues

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.