Wedbush Analysts Raise Earnings Estimates for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) – Investment analysts at Wedbush increased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Alphabet in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $2.04 for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.03. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $220.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.02 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q3 2025 earnings at $2.30 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.49 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.99 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $10.02 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $193.31 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $192.33 and a 200 day moving average of $176.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&G PLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.