Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

23 Dec 2025, 17:32 by Amy Steele · The Cerbat Gem

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report)’s share price shot up 1.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $314.94 and last traded at $314.35. 24,922,118 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 36,676,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.78.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Alphabet agreed to buy data‑center and clean‑energy developer Intersect for about $4.75 billion to secure power and capacity for AI data centers — a direct, tangible step to remove energy bottlenecks and accelerate cloud/AI expansion. Alphabet to buy data center infrastructure firm Intersect in $4.75 billion deal
Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlights that Alphabet’s 2025 strength — big revenue quarters, Google Cloud momentum, a major Palo Alto Networks security agreement and large institutional inflows — supports the view that the recent pullback is consolidation, not a trend reversal. Alphabet’s Pullback After a Big Year—Is This the Dip to Buy?
Positive Sentiment: Commentary and bull pieces argue the market increasingly sees Alphabet as a leading AI software company and a contender to challenge Nvidia for top market status — reinforcing a growth narrative that can support multiple expansion. Will Google Pass Nvidia in 2026 as the World’s Biggest Company?
Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and market pieces compare Alphabet and Nvidia as the top AI/“Magnificent Seven” names; many expect Nvidia’s AI‑infrastructure growth to remain strong, so competition and relative performance debate keeps positioning fluid. Nvidia vs Alphabet: Which Stock Will Outperform in 2026?
Negative Sentiment: A copyright lawsuit from a New York Times reporter alleging unauthorized use of books in AI training could create legal/settlement risk and headline volatility across Big Tech. New York Times reporter sues Google, xAI, OpenAI over chatbot training
Negative Sentiment: Regulators are reviewing an incident where Waymo vehicles stalled during a San Francisco power outage, a reminder of operational and regulatory risks in autonomous‑vehicle deployments. California regulator reviews Waymo stalls during San Francisco power outage

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. President Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.90.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $290.50 and a 200 day moving average of $235.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total value of $32,401.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,750,916.64. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 226,128 shares of company stock worth $63,183,331 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

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.