Wedbush Weighs in on Alphabet’s Q1 Earnings (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – Stock analysts at Wedbush raised their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Alphabet in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the information services provider will earn $2.04 per share for the quarter, up from their prior 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:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 research firms have also commented on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $191.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $190.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other 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 sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.