Alphabet, Now a $2 Trillion Company, Will Start Paying Dividends to Shareholders

Google's parent company Alphabet recently made some announcements that should have current shareholders and prospective investors equally excited.

In its earnings call on Thursday, April 25, Alphabet (GOOGL) reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings, a $70 billion stock buyback plan and — most intriguing of all — the approval of its first-ever dividend.

Shares of the company jumped nearly 15% in after-hours trading on the news, increasing Alphabet's valuation by $196 billion, which marked its largest single-day gain since 2015.

According to Barron's, the surge in valuation resulted in Alphabet becoming the fourth member of the $2 trillion market cap club (along with Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia) 947 days after breaching $1 trillion in market cap in July 2020.

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How much will Alphabet's dividend pay?

The dividend announcement was of particular interest to investors. In doing so, Alphabet now joins fellow "Magnificent Seven" companies Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia in providing shareholders with quarterly yield, leaving Amazon and Tesla as the only two companies in the cohort that do not.

The dividend is currently yielding 0.46%, or 20 cents per share, with all three classes of the stock — A, B and C — eligible to receive the payment.

Alphabet's first distribution will occur on June 17 and will be paid to shareholders of record as of June 10, meaning investors must own the stock by that ex-dividend date in order to be eligible to receive the payment.

Earnings blew away forecasts

In their earnings call after the market closed, Alphabet announced earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89 and quarterly revenue of $80.5 billion, which beat forecasts of $1.50 and $78.7 billion by 25.61% and 2.34%, respectively.

This marks the fifth consecutive quarterly EPS beat for the company, and the fourth in a row that revenue has exceeded analysts' expectations. The earnings beat marked a 15% year-over-year gain, good for $23.6 billion in net income, or profit, for the first quarter of 2024.

Shares of GOOGL are up 57% over the past year.

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