Milpitas, California, May 8, 2026, 03:11 PDT
- KLA approved a 10-for-1 forward stock split, with split-adjusted trading due to start June 12.
- The chip-equipment firm also set a $2.30 quarterly dividend, up 21% from the prior payout.
- KLAC last showed $1,763.25 in early Friday trading data, down 2.9% from the previous close.
KLA Corp said its board approved a 10-for-1 forward stock split and raised its quarterly dividend, a move that will lower the per-share trading price of one of the semiconductor equipment sector’s higher-priced stocks without changing investor ownership stakes.
The timing matters. KLA shares have been lifted this year by demand for tools used in making advanced chips for artificial intelligence, but investors have also punished chip-equipment names when forecasts fail to clear high expectations by a wide margin.
A filing showed KLA will amend its charter to raise authorized common shares to 5 billion from 500 million. Holders of record on June 4 will receive nine extra shares for each share held after the Nasdaq close on June 11, with KLAC set to trade on a split-adjusted basis from the June 12 open.
Chief Financial Officer Bren Higgins said the split was meant to improve “accessibility and liquidity” in KLA shares while staying in line with the company’s long-term capital plan. He also cited broader investor and employee access to the stock. Investing.com Nigeria
The dividend is more direct cash return. KLA’s board approved a quarterly payout of $2.30 a share, payable June 2 to shareholders of record on May 18; the company said the August dividend is expected to be 23 cents a share after the split.
The announcement follows a strong March quarter. KLA reported revenue of $3.415 billion, GAAP diluted earnings of $9.12 a share and adjusted, or non-GAAP, profit of $9.40 a share; non-GAAP means the company strips out certain items to show an adjusted profit measure.
On the earnings call, Chief Executive Richard Wallace said AI was “a core driver of KLA’s performance.” Higgins said gross margin reached 62.2%, helped by service mix and manufacturing scale. The Motley Fool
KLA makes process-control tools, used to find tiny defects in chip production and improve yield, or the share of usable chips produced from a wafer. Its closest capital-equipment cycle peers include Lam Research, Applied Materials and ASML; Lam completed its own 10-for-1 split in 2024.
Regular Nasdaq trading had not opened at the dateline time. KLAC’s latest available quote showed a market value of about $232.3 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio near 50, keeping valuation in focus even as the split lowers the nominal share price.
But the split itself does not create earnings, cash flow or new market value; it divides the same equity into more shares. CFRA analyst Brooks Idlet told Reuters last week that investors were reacting to “lofty expectations and pricy valuations,” and KLA has also flagged risks tied to weaker markets, international operations and changing U.S. export rules. Reuters
