Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Up 2.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) rose 2.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $326.15 and last traded at $322.0450. Approximately 34,890,253 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 9% from the average daily volume of 32,070,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $314.34.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI & advertising momentum: Analysts and media posit that Alphabet’s Gemini/AI-search progress and a strong advertising engine are driving a renewed rally and expectations that the company can join the $4 trillion market-cap group. Prediction: This Artificial Intelligence Stock Will Become a Member of the $4 Trillion Club in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Market-cap milestone: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company — a status shift that can attract index/ETF flows and underpins momentum. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street upgrades: Multiple analysts have raised price targets and issued bullish notes heading into 2026, reinforcing institutional demand and supporting higher valuations. Analyst revises Google stock price target for the next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Wiz acquisition pending EU decision: The EU will decide on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz buy by Feb. 10 — resolution will remove a major overhang but could bring remedies or conditions. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by February 10
• Neutral Sentiment: Lawsuit settlements on AI chatbots: Alphabet and Character.AI settled suits tied to minors’ harm, which reduces immediate legal uncertainty but keeps reputational and regulatory scrutiny active. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
• Negative Sentiment: App-store pressure from U.S. senators: Three Democratic senators urged Apple and Google to suspend Elon Musk’s X and Grok apps after allegations that Grok-enabled image generation facilitated sexualized images of minors — this directly implicates Google’s Play Store and could invite political/regulatory attention. Grok and X should be suspended from Apple, Google app stores, Democratic senators say
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (SEC filing). The sale is small relative to his holdings but can be viewed negatively by some market participants. Sundar Pichai stock sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Talent poaching: Nvidia hired a senior Google marketing executive as CMO — a signal that top talent is mobile amid fierce AI competition, which could concern investors about retention. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $306.00 target price (up previously from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Daiwa Capital Markets lifted their target price on Alphabet from $233.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $305.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.60. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $448,684,000 after purchasing an additional 56,295 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after buying an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $352,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,277,000 after acquiring an additional 7,180 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.