Despite lagging much of the market earlier in 2025, Alphabet (GOOGL) shares have rebounded sharply in recent months, lifting the company’s valuation past the $3 trillion mark as the benefits of its multi-year buyback program begin to materialize.
Several factors have fueled the latest rally. Alphabet gained regulatory relief after a U.S. court ruled that the company would not be forced to divest Chrome in its ongoing antitrust case, easing a major overhang.
Investor optimism has also grown around the continued rollout of AI Mode across Google’s core products, alongside a broader valuation re-rating as the stock’s earlier underperformance made it appear attractive relative to other tech giants.
Behind the scenes, Alphabet has been quietly building shareholder value through an aggressive share repurchase program. According to data from Koyfin, the number of outstanding Google shares has fallen to levels last seen in 2006.
$GOOGL After 7 years of buybacks and a 13% reduction in share count, Alphabet has returned its share count to levels last seen in 2006. pic.twitter.com/IrymUfsuLf
undefined Koyfin (@KoyfinCharts) September 26, 2025
Over the past seven years, Alphabet has repurchased more than $330 billion worth of common stock, reducing its share count by 13%, Koyfin data show. The pace of buybacks has accelerated sharply since 2019, reflecting robust cash flows and management confidence in the company’s long-term outlook.
In financial markets, a lower share count typically boosts earnings per share (EPS), since the same profit level is distributed across fewer shares.
Sustained buybacks also signal strong free cash flow and balance sheet health, allowing the company to return capital to investors while still funding major investments in AI, cloud infrastructure, and other growth initiatives.
Analyst targets raised
Alphabet shares climbed above $255 last week, marking a gain of nearly 50% since early June. The company now ranks as the fourth-largest publicly traded stock globally, trailing only fellow “Magnificent 7” members Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Apple (AAPL).
The sharp rebound has prompted a wave of analyst upgrades. Baird raised its price target to $275, Citigroup lifted its target to $280, and JPMorgan Securities boosted its forecast to $290.
Analysts cited regulatory clarity following a favorable U.S. court ruling on Chrome, robust growth across Alphabet’s cloud and non-advertising businesses, and rising confidence in the company’s ability to monetize artificial intelligence and new product features as key reasons for the more optimistic outlook.
Even when Alphabet shares struggled earlier this year, the company’s underlying business remained strong.
In August, Alphabet reported second-quarter revenue of $96.4 billion, up 14% year over year, while net income surged 19% to $28.2 billion. EPS climbed 22% to $2.31, underscoring the company’s solid profitability.
Perhaps the most bullish takeaway from the earnings report was the broad-based growth across Alphabet’s core businesses, including Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud, signaling strength across both advertising and non-advertising segments.
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