Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Up 5% – Here’s Why

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price shot up 5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $351.97 and last traded at $351.28. 25,476,221 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 21,927,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.69.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon, which is lifting sentiment and likely drawing passive index buying. Reuters: Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple pieces point to strong AI and cloud demand, including reports that Google Cloud backlog has surged and that Alphabet is compute-constrained, suggesting customer demand may be outpacing supply. 247WallSt: New AI Cold War?! Did Google Really ‘Throttle’ Zuckerberg’s AI Access?
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary is broadly constructive, with analysts and market commentators reiterating buy/overweight views and framing recent weakness as a pullback rather than a deterioration in fundamentals. TipRanks: Dow Inclusion Gives Alphabet Stock (GOOGL) a Much-Needed Lift
• Positive Sentiment: Several articles note rising investor interest in Alphabet as a core AI and cloud beneficiary, with some bullish long-term price targets and comparisons to other megacap winners. Seeking Alpha: Alphabet: The Path To $576/Share
• Neutral Sentiment: There is also some caution in the news flow around Alphabet’s heavy AI capital spending and talent losses, which may keep volatility elevated even as the Dow inclusion boosts the stock. CNBC: Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut, but the tech giant faces major AI questions
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google has limited Meta’s access to Gemini AI models underscore ongoing compute constraints and highlight the expensive infrastructure race in AI. Reuters: Google limits Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.78.

Alphabet Stock Up 5.0%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $366.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $332.06. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 151,523 shares of company stock valued at $4,863,526 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its stake in Alphabet by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 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.