Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 3.2% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were up 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $373.65 and last traded at $370.92. 28,123,000 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 32,272,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $359.51.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett said he personally initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet, a high-profile endorsement that helped boost sentiment around GOOGL and reinforced the view that the stock remains attractive even after its run-up. Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Alphabet’s AI momentum across Search and Cloud, along with strong backlog and improving economics, supporting the case that the stock’s premium valuation can be justified by growth. GOOGL Stock: Do AI Growth Drivers Justify the Premium Valuation?
• Positive Sentiment: Several previews said Alphabet’s upcoming earnings report could bring another beat, with expectations for earnings growth, solid Google Cloud results, and resilience in Search. Alphabet (GOOGL) Earnings Expected to Grow: Should You Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Alphabet from hold to strong-buy, adding to the bullish tone around the shares. Zacks upgrade to strong-buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced its largest solar power and battery storage purchase to date, a positive ESG and infrastructure move, but one that is unlikely to move the stock materially on its own. Google’s biggest clean power project is 40 miles north of xAI’s unpermitted gas power plant
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission is preparing fresh fines against Google, renewing regulatory overhang in Europe and raising the risk of added legal costs or penalties. EU Prepares to Fine Google as Part of Increased Big Tech Enforcement
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also facing additional scrutiny and criticism over AI and search, including a report claiming its AI search features pose risks for kids and a separate lawsuit from publishers over AI training data. Google’s AI search engine poses ‘unacceptable risks for kids,’ bombshell report finds

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Evercore upped their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (down from $410.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.73.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.2%

The firm has a market cap of $4.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $371.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $337.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Evansbrook LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,738,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.