KLA Corp. To Buy Back $6 Bln Of Shares, Ups Dividend

(RTTNews) - KLA Corporation (KLAC), a capital equipment firm, said on Thursday that its Board has authorized to repurchase up to $6 billion of the company's shares, which is to be funded by a combination of new debt and cash.

The company intends to do an accelerated share repurchase of around $3 billion to be completed over the next 3 to 6 months. The remaining will be bought back over the next 12-18 months.

This is in addition to the existing share buyback authorization, which had $699 million remaining as of March 31.

KLA has also announced an increase in the quarterly dividend by 24 percent to $1.30 per share from $1.05 per share.

Rick Wallace, CEO of KLA Corporation said: "Today's announcements of a new share repurchase authorization and increase in the quarterly dividend level reflect our long standing focus on productive capital allocation and confidence in our business strategies…"

The company also affirmed its guidance for the June quarter. For the three-month period, the company still expects its adjusted EPS to be in the range of $4.93 - $6.03 on revenues of $2.3 billion to $2.55 billion.