Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $350.15 and last traded at $340.70, with a volume of 25687135 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $344.90.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waymo’s $16 billion funding round and $126B valuation bolster Alphabet’s optionality in autonomous mobility and unlock value outside core ads — a major positive signal for long-term growth investors. Waymo valued at $126 billion in latest financing
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud is signing multi-year AI deals (Liberty Global) and commercial deployments (Humana), validating monetization of Gemini and enterprise AI adoption. Google Cloud, Liberty Global strike five-year AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street momentum: several analyst upgrades and raised price targets ahead of earnings reflect confidence in Search/Cloud/AI revenue leverage. Top Mizuho Analyst Raises Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock Price Target Ahead of Q4 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional and thematic buyers (Crossmark, Sumitomo Mitsui, ARK additions) show continued allocation into Alphabet amid the AI thematic. Fund Update: Crossmark Global Holdings, Inc. Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 earnings are due after the close Feb. 4 and options imply a sizable move — results and guidance will likely drive the next major direction. Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock: What Wall Street Expects from Earnings Wednesday
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in these feeds is noisy/zeroed (likely reporting artifacts) and currently provides no clear bearish signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and some institutional selling: recent filings show the CAO sold shares and several funds trimmed positions — persistent insider sales can weigh on sentiment near costly valuations. SEC insider filing
• Negative Sentiment: Covers and worry pieces highlight high valuation and the risk of a near-term pullback if AI monetization or ad growth disappoints — investor expectations are elevated. Why Google Stock Faces A Near-Term Pullback
• Negative Sentiment: Collateral concerns: Disney disclosed a YouTube TV-related hit, a reminder of distribution and carriage risks for YouTube/TV businesses. Disney said it took a $110 million hit from its fight with YouTube TV

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 26th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $330.83.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $321.78 and a 200-day moving average of $269.04.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares in the company, valued at $683,642,180.16. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,037,964 shares of company stock valued at $95,259,727 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $132,114,125,000 after buying an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,749,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.