Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.8% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price rose 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $302.56 and last traded at $298.70. 35,092,425 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 31,472,260 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.45.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Investors following GOOGL have been watching these headlines:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire’s buying signals investor confidence. A report says Berkshire Hathaway has bought more than 60 million Alphabet shares since Greg Abel became CEO, with Alphabet among the largest holdings in its portfolio. Warren Buffett’s Successor, Greg Abel, Has Nearly $110 Billion Invested in These 2 Tech Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: New financing is a trade-off. Alphabet is reportedly planning its first Hong Kong and Singapore dollar bond sale, potentially broadening its funding sources, though borrowing adds obligations as AI investment rises. Alphabet eyes $2.2 billion in first Hong Kong, Singapore dollar bond sales
• Negative Sentiment: Legal headlines add uncertainty. A lawsuit seeks to halt frontier AI development, and a separate securities class action alleges misleading investor communications concerning Gemini development. The claims are allegations, but could add legal and reputational risk. OpenAI, Google, Anthropic hit with lawsuit seeking halt to frontier AI development Alphabet Shareholder Alert

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $465.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Piper Sandler set a $345.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on Alphabet from $410.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $412.51.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $329.89 and a 200-day moving average of $338.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). The business had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.59%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CacheTech Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. CacheTech Inc. now owns 17,673 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,566 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.0% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,565,384 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,914,937,000 after purchasing an additional 161,339 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the third quarter. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN now owns 2,764 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. BNP Paribas boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 275,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $94,910,000 after buying an additional 24,798 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 3,019 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google’s products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.