Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Upgraded by Zacks Research to Strong-Buy Rating

09 Jul 2026, 08:56 by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat Gem

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.19.

View Our Latest Research Report on GOOG

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $358.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $369.48 and its 200-day moving average is $334.74. Alphabet has a one year low of $173.88 and a one year high of $404.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after buying an additional 953,790 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after acquiring an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from the AI infrastructure spending boom, with analysts highlighting Google Cloud, data centers, and AI hardware demand as growth drivers for the company. 3 Top-Ranked Stocks Riding on Massive AI Infrastructure Spending
Positive Sentiment: Google Search saw record query traffic during the World Cup, reinforcing the strength of its core search business and ad engine. World Cup drives Google Search to record queries per second
Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to expand driverless rides to four more major cities this year, which could strengthen Alphabet’s optionality beyond advertising and cloud. Waymo Plans to Expand Driverless Cars to 4 More Major Cities This Year
Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles argue Alphabet remains attractively valued versus other Magnificent 7 names, with some investors seeing the stock as a better long-term AI compounder. Magnificent 7 stocks are now at their cheapest in about 10 years
Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s lobbying disclosure shows continued spending on AI, privacy, cybersecurity, and energy policy issues, indicating active regulatory engagement rather than a direct business catalyst. Lobbying Update: $50,000 of GOOGLE CLIENT SERVICES LLC lobbying was just disclosed
Neutral Sentiment: Google’s appeals of an Indian trademark/ads ruling could create legal overhang, but the company argues the decision would also harm consumers by limiting keyword advertising competition. Google appeals Indian ruling over its ads platform, citing consumer harm
Negative Sentiment: Some market commentary points to a “massive bill” in Alphabet’s Q2 results, which could be pressuring sentiment around margins and earnings quality. Alphabet’s Q2 Includes A Massive Bill Nobody’s Talking About

About Alphabet

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Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.