Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 1.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $376.00 and last traded at $373.25. 24,397,306 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 31,803,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $369.35.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI story got another boost after HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI capabilities, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s enterprise AI tools and cloud services.
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary from analysts and market watchers continues to highlight Alphabet’s earnings strength, growing Google Cloud backlog, and AI-driven upside, which supports the stock’s longer-term bullish case.
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly nearly tripled its Alphabet stake in Q1, a high-profile endorsement that may be helping investor sentiment around GOOGL.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet introduced an “AI Control Roadmap” through DeepMind to address the risks of rogue AI agents, underscoring its focus on responsible AI development rather than signaling a direct financial impact.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also unveiled a new Google Home Speaker built around Gemini, showing continued product investment in consumer AI, though the near-term revenue impact is uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Top AI researcher Noam Shazeer is leaving Google DeepMind/Gemini to join OpenAI, a symbolic loss in the AI talent war that could pressure sentiment around Alphabet’s competitiveness in frontier AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo recalled about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter freeway construction zones, raising fresh concerns about execution risks in Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit.
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators also increased scrutiny of Google Search with new fairness and transparency requirements, adding to the regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s core business.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 29th. CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $364.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AMS Capital Ltda boosted its position in Alphabet by 781.1% during the 1st quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 111,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $32,670,000 after purchasing an additional 98,823 shares during the period. Steelhead Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $538,000. S&A Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at about $584,000. E Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% in the first quarter. E Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, LFG Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 2.8% in the first quarter. LFG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 27,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,972,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.