Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $404.47 and last traded at $393.11, with a volume of 18511620 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $393.32.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are looking for major AI announcements at Google I/O, including Gemini upgrades, agentic commerce features, and TPU chip progress, which could reinforce Alphabet’s leadership in AI. Google I/O primer: Alphabet’s AI showcase is its chance to wow Wall Street
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expects broad AI product updates across Search, Chrome, and Android, supporting the view that Alphabet can keep monetizing AI across its core platforms. Google I/O preview: Bank of America expects major AI push across Search, Chrome, and Android
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet position again, a high-profile signal that some large investors still see upside in the stock. Warren Buffett’s Successor, Greg Abel, Just Sold 16 Stocks, but Piled Into an AI Titan That’s Now a Top-5 Position for Berkshire Hathaway
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlights Alphabet’s strong fundamentals, including a powerful earnings beat, cloud backlog growth, and AI-driven efficiency gains, which have helped justify the rally. Alphabet: The $462B Backlog Crushed The Bear Case, But At 30x P/E I’m Trimming To Buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple hedge fund and billionaire portfolio updates show mixed views on Alphabet, with some managers adding while others trimmed positions, which may limit the stock’s near-term reaction. Pershing Square trims Alphabet Class C stake by 5.85M shares
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider-like selling by a major shareholder, which can create slight pressure if investors interpret it as profit-taking after the recent run-up. SEC filing

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $363.40.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $4.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.99, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $329.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.18.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 257,931 shares of company stock worth $36,886,538 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Chesapeake Wealth Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management now owns 2,065 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas now owns 128,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,944,000 after buying an additional 3,524 shares in the last quarter. Bull Harbor Capital LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,682,000. Strategic Investment Advisors MI grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 4,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 14,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,101,000 after buying an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alphabet

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.