Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 6.7% – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price was up 6.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $358.58 and last traded at $356.13. 46,242,734 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 43% from the average session volume of 32,444,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at $333.66.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are increasingly viewed as credible alternatives to Nvidia chips. That could reduce Google’s dependence on external suppliers and create a potential external chip-revenue opportunity. Alphabet and Amazon custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Alphabet’s record quarter, strong Google Cloud growth, Gemini adoption and enterprise AI demand. Analysts and value-focused investors continue to view GOOGL as comparatively inexpensive among large technology and AI companies. Alphabet AI investment and valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly supporting a $15 billion Anthropic data-center project with chips and financial guarantees, while Oracle is expanding its partnership to bring Gemini models to enterprise applications. These initiatives could drive Google Cloud demand and strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem. Anthropic data center backed by Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s reported quarterly earnings and revenue beat consensus estimates by wide margins, supporting the fundamental case, although investors remain focused on whether AI growth will translate into sufficient cash returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet withdrew its Google Earth AI image-generation feature only one day after launch following criticism that fabricated imagery could spread misinformation. The quick reversal limits immediate product risk but raises questions about AI governance and rollout discipline. Google Earth AI feature withdrawn
• Negative Sentiment: The AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Alphabet is targeting up to $205 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, while rising memory and infrastructure costs are pressuring cash flow and increasing future depreciation. AI buildout costs and cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales were small relative to the executives’ remaining holdings, but they provide a modest sentiment headwind. Separately, investor-law-firm investigations could create additional legal and reputational overhang. Alphabet director stock sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, New Street Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 6.7%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $339.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.