Come July 15, it will be easier to buy stock in Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The corporation announced it will be executing a 20-for-1 stock split in the summer, taking the price of Class A shares down from $2,752.88 to $137.64.
The announcement came soon after Google’s quarterly report said it sold $61.2 billion in ads over the final quarter of 2021, a 33% year-over-year increase. The news sent Alphabet shares up 11% before markets opened Wednesday.
Kept off the price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average, Alphabet could move onto the 30-company index, UBS analysts said. Apple joined the Dow after its 2015 stock split, and while most people think of Alphabet as another tech company, it’s considered communications services for the Dow’s purposes.
Google posted profits of $20.6 billion for the fourth quarter, well above Wall Street expectations. The expansion of e-commerce and ads that come along with it have helped maker the U.S.’s third-largest public company even more of an appealing buy for investors.
Overall, Alphabet topped $257 billion in revenue, by far its best year. Google Cloud revenue was up 45% in Q4, CEO Sundar Pichai said, but the division still posted an operating loss of $890 million. Pixel phones set a quarterly sales record.
“This came in spite of an extremely challenging supply chain environment. The response to Pixel 6 from our customers and carrier partners was incredibly positive. And AI is making Pixel even more helpful,” Pichai said.
Investors earned $30.69 per share, beating projections and making Alphabet a reliable bet, always something shareholders prize. Coming in July, there are sure to be a lot more of those.
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