Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price traded up 1.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $369.00 and last traded at $367.46. Approximately 28,175,731 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 33% from the average session volume of 21,199,193 shares. The stock had previously closed at $362.10.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI narrative remains strong, with coverage highlighting accelerating Google Cloud momentum, AI spending that is improving the bull case, and HSBC’s new multi-year Google Cloud AI deal, which reinforces demand for Alphabet’s enterprise AI services.
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, lifting the position to roughly $16.6 billion, a bullish signal that may boost investor confidence in GOOG’s long-term value.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Waymo unit is expanding monetization efforts by trialing a premium subscription for its robotaxi service, suggesting a path to higher future revenue from autonomous driving. Alphabet (GOOGL) Trials Premium Subscription for Waymo Robotaxi Service
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles framed Alphabet as an attractive AI and cloud stock versus peers, but these pieces were largely valuation and strategy commentary rather than new fundamentals. Snowflake vs Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo recalled about 3,800 robotaxis after a software issue caused vehicles to enter closed construction zones, renewing safety questions around Alphabet’s autonomous driving business and potentially creating near-term investor caution. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones, NHTSA says
• Negative Sentiment: Google also lost a key AI leader, Noam Shazeer, to OpenAI, underscoring intensifying talent competition in generative AI and raising concern that Alphabet may be vulnerable in the AI race. Google’s Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet continues to face regulatory pressure in the U.K., where watchdogs ordered more transparency in Google Search rankings, adding to broader antitrust scrutiny.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.78.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $361.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $330.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its position in Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake in Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after buying an additional 15,830,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after buying an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.