Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $349.00 and last traded at $339.71, with a volume of 36372485 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $343.69.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waymo raised $16 billion in a financing round, valuing the unit at about $126B — this reduces Alphabet’s near-term funding burden for autonomous driving and validates Waymo’s standalone value. Waymo announces $16 billion fundraising round
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud struck a five?year AI and cloud deal with Liberty Global to deploy Gemini models across European units — a material enterprise win for Cloud/AI monetization. Google Cloud, Liberty Global strike five-year AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Humana launched an AI-powered agent assist built on Google Cloud, showing continued vertical adoption of Google’s AI stack in healthcare. Humana Unveils AI-Powered Agent Assist Built With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: WSJ reports Google is investing heavily in renewable energy and grid capacity to secure data-center power for AI — strengthens long-term cloud/AI reliability and cost profile. Google Is Spending Big to Build a Lead in the AI Energy Race
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and previews (Zacks, previews) show expectations for strong Search and Cloud Q4 momentum — this supports upside but also raises the bar for the earnings print. Can Strong Search and Cloud Growth Aid Alphabet’s Q4 Earnings?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target to $400 (buy) while Bernstein raised theirs to $335 (market perform) — mixed analyst signals can amplify intraday swings around earnings. Jefferies raises target; Bernstein adjusts target Bernstein adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Company insider activity: CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole sold 933 shares (small reduction) and a separate report flags a large shareholder sale — insider sales can create short-term pressure but specifics matter. Insider sale by Amie Thuener O’Toole Major shareholder sells $35M in stock
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo faces a Senate hearing to defend its safety record after federal probes — regulatory scrutiny raises execution and PR risk for Alphabet’s autonomous unit. Waymo to defend self-driving safety record, warn on China competition
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to pay $135M to resolve an Android data-transfer lawsuit — a modest but tangible legal expense that can weigh on sentiment. Google to Pay $135 Million to Resolve the Android Data Transfer Lawsuit

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 26th. President Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $336.60.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $321.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,035,186 shares of company stock worth $94,458,941. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.