Bernstein Maintains Google Stock Rating, Gives ‘Hold’ Target

Alphabet’s Google stock (NASDAQ: GOOG) opened Monday’s trading session at $341. The search giant remains range-bound this month with little to no major price fluctuations. Investments have remained stagnant since May after it reached a yearly high of $408. Add to this, the recent earnings call saw Alphabet’s AI capex rising from $180 billion to $205 billion for 2026. This added to the company’s woes, as Wall Street has been against overspending in the AI sector.

Google Stock: Bernstein Gives a Hold Rating

Leading global asset management firm Bernstein has given Google stock a ‘hold’ rating. The development indicates that the leading equity might remain range-bound for some more time in the charts. Wall Street analysts have been skeptical of GOOG’s price run after the hike in capex. The company is yet to see full revenues pouring in, as most of them are in the backlog.

Mark Shmulik, the senior analyst from Bernstein, has also given Google stock a price target of $385. However, the analyst’s previous target for GOOG was $390, and he gave it a haircut of $5. That’s an uptick and return on investment (ROI) of approximately 11% from its current price. Therefore, an investment of $1,000 could turn into $1,100+ if the price prediction turns out to be accurate.

Mark Shmulik is a five-star-rated analyst with a success rate of 69.4%. Traders have earned average returns of 19% from his estimations. He is ranked inside the top 1,000 Wall Street analysts list and is among the closely watched financial strategists when it comes to price predictions. Therefore, his ‘hold’ rating for Google stock has mostly dampened the equity’s projection.

The price has been stagnant for three months, which has made traders look at other tech stocks. From Micron to SanDisk and SK Hynix, these stocks are moving the market this month. Google stock, on the other hand, has been slow with little to no price spurts. If this continues, GOOG could end up seeing other equities take the top 10 spot.