Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was up 1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $334.04 and last traded at $331.86. Approximately 33,588,104 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average daily volume of 31,447,307 shares. The stock had previously closed at $328.57.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple announced a multi‑year deal to base its next generation of Apple Foundation Models (including a revamped Siri) on Google’s Gemini models and cloud — a large, visible commercial win for Alphabet’s AI platform that expands Gemini’s reach into iPhone ecosystems and could drive cloud and model-revenue upside. Google and Apple enter into multi-year AI deal for Gemini models
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction to Alphabet’s AI progress and commercial wins lifted the stock to a record and pushed the company’s market capitalization above $4 trillion — a signaling event that amplifies institutional interest and momentum chasing. Alphabet Becomes Newest $4 Trillion Company, Joining Nvidia and Apple
• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding Gemini’s commercial footprint in retail (Walmart, Shopify, Wayfair partnerships, Universal Commerce Protocol), which supports growth of agent‑led commerce and monetization opportunities for Gemini and Google Cloud. These deals reinforce the narrative of Gemini as a platform with multiple monetization paths. Google bolsters bet on AI-powered commerce with new platform for shopping agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for January shows effectively zero days of short interest in the recent snapshot — the entry is noisy and adds little immediate informational value for price direction. Investors should treat this as non‑consequential until clearer short‑interest reporting emerges. Market data snapshot
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile criticism from rivals can add headline volatility: Elon Musk publicly called the Apple‑Google deal an “unreasonable concentration of power,” which may draw regulatory scrutiny or negative sentiment among some investors — though such comments don’t change the underlying commercial implications immediately. Elon Musk Slams Google, Apple Deal: ‘Unreasonable Concentration Of Power’

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Citizens Jmp raised their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.77.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $307.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $184,914.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,872.04. The trade was a 13.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 224,587 shares of company stock worth $66,549,284 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. 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.