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

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

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to draw bullish attention as investors highlight accelerating Google Cloud growth, improving margins, and a very large backlog that suggests strong demand for AI and cloud services. Alphabet: Google Cloud Is Outperforming Azure And AWS; $462 Billion Backlog Requires More AI Investments
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet stake significantly, which is being read as a strong vote of confidence in GOOG’s long-term outlook. Berkshire Hathaway Expands Alphabet (GOOGL) Stake to 58M Shares as Ackman Exits
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s major AI and data-center investments, including a reported $1.5 billion Alabama campus expansion and broader capex plans, are supporting the view that the company is buying future growth. Alphabet (GOOGL) Announces $1.5 Billion Investment Across 2026 And 2027 To Expand Its Alabama Data Center Campus

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.78.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $364.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 221,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $59,827,000 after purchasing an additional 15,280 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.