Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 2.6% – Time to Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) traded up 2.6% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $306.50 and last traded at $306.01. 19,488,741 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 22,797,852 shares. The stock had previously closed at $298.30.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet closed its largest-ever acquisition, buying cloud security firm Wiz for $32 billion to fold into Google Cloud — the deal strengthens Google’s cloud security and AI security offerings, a strategic bolt-on for enterprise cloud growth. Google completes $32B acquisition of Wiz
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Alphabet rolled Gemini into Workspace (Docs/Sheets/Slides/Drive) and launched Embedding 2, which supports higher monetization potential for Workspace and Cloud AI services. Alphabet Stock Rises as Gemini AI Powers Workspace Automation
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction: Google Cloud struck a multi-year AI deal with Canal+, expanding content-production and recommendation use cases for Google’s GenAI in media — a revenue and reference win for Cloud. Canal+ taps Google’s AI for video production, content recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Defense/government expansion: Google is rolling out Gemini AI agents on the Pentagon’s portal for millions of personnel, signaling large-scale government adoption that could drive steady Cloud and AI revenue. Google deepens Pentagon AI push
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment/technicals: Analysts remain constructive (many Buy ratings and higher price targets) and MarketBeat notes the stock is finding support near $300 after a pullback — framing the moves as a potential buying opportunity for longer-term investors. Alphabet’s Pullback May Be Opening a New Entry Point
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor exposures: Alphabet is listed as a backer in the PayPay IPO story (SoftBank-led), but this is more peripheral to Alphabet’s core earnings drivers. SoftBank’s PayPay plans to price US IPO around low end
• Negative Sentiment: Caution: Some commentators warn it may be too early to “buy the dip” given macro/sector volatility and the size of the Wiz deal — the $32B cash outlay and integration risk could weigh on near-term sentiment or valuation multiples. It’s Too Early To Buy the Dip in GOOG Stock

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 target price (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day moving average is $319.96 and its 200 day moving average is $288.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ring Mountain Capital LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. HRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Certior Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 919 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC now owns 4,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.