Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), the parent company of and indeed better known as Google, made a splash at the stock market’s close on April 25 with a most impressive earnings report for the first quarter of 2024.
Indeed, the technology giant reported revenue of $80.54 billion – 2.34% above the predicted $78.70 – and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89 – a stunning 25.61% better than the forecast $1.50.
Other standout elements of the report include the quadrupling of its cloud business and its persistent and large-scale investment in further artificial intelligence (AI) development.
Finally, Alphabet also caught the attention of investors by announcing its intent to make its first-ever dividend payments on June 17 to all stockholders of record as of June 10.
The dividends are set to be paid quarterly from that point onward and amount to $0.20 per share. This means that investors who purchased $10,000 worth of GOOGL stock on January 2 could expect to receive $14 on June 17.
GOOGL set for massive gains after Q1 earnings
Given that, even before the latest report, Google boasted impressively high price targets – such as the $185 per share assigned in early April by experts at Oppenheimer – it is likely the company will surge even more in the coming months, possibly breaching $200.
Indeed, forecast readjustments have already started arriving in the small hours of Friday, April 26, with Bernstein updating its prediction to $180 from $165 and New Street to $185 from $166.
The changes hardly come as a surprise given that investors have already demonstrated there are few things that elicit as strong a reaction as the mention of AI, major share buybacks, and new or increased dividend payments, and sent GOOGL stock surging 11.91% in the extended session making Google stock price today, at press time, $174.58.
GOOGL stock price chart
As impressive as Google stock’s after-hour performance is, the company has been doing fairly well in general in recent months. The last 52 weeks saw GOOGL rise 50.42% while the shares are 12.90% in the green.
The big tech stock has, however, been trading almost sideways in the last 30 days and is up 3.54% in the time frame – though it is worth pointing out that the consolidation phase came after a rapid recovery from the year’s lows in early March.
On the weekly chart, GOOGL is 0.08% in the red and, at the latest close on April 25 it stood at $156 following a 1.97% daily decline – a decline which itself stands in stark contrast to Google stock’s overnight performance.
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Source: https://finbold.com/google-stock-set-for-massive-gains-as-it-readies-first-dividend-payment/