Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Up 4% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares rose 4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $316.50 and last traded at $314.98. Approximately 51,964,171 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 40% from the average daily volume of 37,096,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $302.85.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Argus raised their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.