Google fourth-quarter consolidated revenue tops Wall Street target

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's consolidated revenue beat Wall Street's TARGET (TGT.NY)in the fourth quarter even as pricing for its online ads weakened during the holiday season.

Shares of Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine, were essentially flat at $1136.94 in after hours trading on Thursday.

Google's consolidated revenue, which includes the money-losing Motorola smartphone business, rose to $16.86 billion from $14.42 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for $16.75 billion.

Paid clicks on Google's online ads jumped 31 percent year-on-year, but the average cost per click that marketers paid Google declined 11 percent.

Revenue in Google's core Internet business totaled $15.7 billion in the last three months of the year, up 22 percent from the $12.91 billion in the year-ago period.

Google's consolidated net income was $3.38 billion, or $9.90 per share, compared to $2.89 billion, or $8.62 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $12.01 per share.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)