Wedbush Has Pessimistic Outlook of Alphabet Q2 Earnings

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) - Wedbush decreased their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Alphabet in a report released on Tuesday, April 15th. Wedbush analyst S. Devitt now expects that the information services provider will post earnings per share of $1.95 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.16. Wedbush has a "Outperform" rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Alphabet's current full-year earnings is $8.89 per share.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GOOG. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $210.88.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $153.36. 19,461,666 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,427,163. The company's 50 day moving average is $167.16 and its 200 day moving average is $177.55. Alphabet has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.