Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Up 4.4% – Should You Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was up 4.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $376.10 and last traded at $372.47. 26,987,351 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 25% from the average daily volume of 21,655,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $356.65.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly discussing a potential deal worth more than $1.5 billion with AI coding startup Mechanize, which could strengthen its coding-agent capabilities and add specialized talent. Google Mechanize deal article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent operating results remain robust: Alphabet reported $119.8 billion of quarterly revenue, up 24.2% year over year, while Google Cloud growth and AI-related demand continue to support the long-term investment case. Analysts cited in recent coverage maintain bullish views and price targets above current trading levels. Alphabet growth stock article
• Positive Sentiment: Janney Montgomery Scott disclosed a new approximately $464 million GOOG position, signaling institutional interest, although 13F filings reflect holdings as of June 30 rather than current trading decisions. Janney GOOG position article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet and other major technology companies could face stricter social-media requirements after the Senate advanced children’s online-safety legislation. The potential regulatory impact is not yet clear. Social media regulation article
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Scientist Jeff Dean is leaving after 27 years to co-found Discovery Loop, an AI-for-science startup, alongside other Google veterans. His departure is viewed as a significant loss of technical and strategic expertise. Jeff Dean departure article
• Negative Sentiment: Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is moving into a chair role, while leaders connected to the Gemini model are departing. The leadership changes, combined with delays to the flagship Gemini release, have intensified concerns that Alphabet may be losing momentum in the AI race. Google AI leadership overhaul article
• Negative Sentiment: A U.K. tribunal allowed a $6.7 billion advertiser class-action lawsuit against Google to proceed, preserving a potentially material legal and antitrust liability. U.K. advertiser class-action article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $410.09.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.1%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $355.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $338.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,551,938,000 after buying an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.