Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares surged more than 11.5% after Thursday’s closing bell as its financial results for the first quarter impressed and it announced its first-ever dividend.
The parent company of Google declared a cash dividend of $0.20 per share to be paid on June 17, 2024, and said it plans to pay quarterly cash dividends in the future.
For Q1, earnings per share increased from $1.17 to $1.89, above the consensus of $1.49.
Revenue rose 15% year-over-year to $80.5 billion from $69.8 billion, ahead of estimates of $78.6 billion.
Google Search and other revenue increased from $40.4 billion to $46.2 billion, YouTube ads revenue increased from $6.7 billion to $8.1 billion, and Google Cloud revenue increased from $7.5 billion to $9.6 billion.
“Our results in the first quarter reflect strong performance from Search, YouTube and Cloud,” CEO Sundar Pichai noted.
“We are well underway with our Gemini era and there’s great momentum across the company. Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure, and our global product footprint, position us well for the next wave of AI innovation.”
Alphabet shares added 12.6% to $177.80 shortly following the release of its earnings report.