Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Climb 2.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 2.1% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $295.74 and last traded at $293.45. Approximately 24,754,169 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 21% from the average session volume of 31,448,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $287.38.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are a few of the latest headlines about GOOGL:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding its custom TPU chips, which are used by nearly 100 customers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s abrupt departure has also drawn attention to alternatives to Nvidia, potentially creating an opening for Google’s chips and cloud services. Article: Why Alphabet Stock Was Moving Higher Today
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is joining the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile-shield program. The report offers little detail on the company’s expected role or potential revenue, so the near-term financial impact is unclear. Article: Golden Dome’s $185 Billion Question
• Negative Sentiment: A securities class action covering investors who bought Alphabet shares from May 19 through July 16, 2026, is approaching its lead-plaintiff deadline. The lawsuit and related allegations create potential legal and reputational overhang, though the claims have not been proven. Article: Kaplan Fox Alerts Alphabet Investors to a Securities Class Action Lawsuit

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 target price (down from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $412.51.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $329.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $338.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). The business had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 50.03% and a return on equity of 43.33%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.81 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 242,259,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $83,356,484,000 after purchasing an additional 3,281,761 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 40,659,406 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,990,089,000 after buying an additional 669,566 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,865,809,000 after buying an additional 1,457,371 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,334,186,000 after buying an additional 1,631,721 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,911,467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,400 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google’s products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.