William Blair Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Investment analysts at William Blair upped their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, February 4th. William Blair analyst R. Schackart now expects that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $1.99 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.98. The consensus estimate for Alphabet’s current full-year earnings is $8.02 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Alphabet’s Q4 2025 earnings at $2.36 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.64 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.66 EPS.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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 brokerages also recently weighed in on GOOGL. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $191.60 on Thursday. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $190.83 and a 200 day moving average of $174.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 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, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.