05:59 AM EDT, 04/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with the stock move in the headline and the first paragraph.)

Alphabet (GOOG) shares were up 11.5% in premarket activity Friday after the company reported a surge in earnings and sales in Q1.

The owner of the Google ( GOOG ) search engine reported Q1 earnings late Thursday of $1.89 per diluted share, up from $1.17 a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Capital IQ expected $1.51.

Revenue in the quarter ended March 31 rose to $80.54 billion from $69.79 billion a year earlier.

Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $78.70 billion.

Alphabet said its board authorized the launch of a quarterly cash dividend program, declaring a dividend of $0.20 per share, payable on June 17 to shareholders of record on June 10 on each class A, class B, and class C shares.

Alphabet also said its board authorized the company to buy back up to an additional $70 billion of its class A and class C shares.

The repurchases will be executed from "time to time," subject to market conditions, it said.

Price: 176.08, Change: +18.13, Percent Change: +11.48