KLA-Tencor (KLAC +0.55%) is devoting more capital to shareholder payouts. The company has declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.45 per share for its Q1 2014, to be paid on Sept. 3 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 16. That amount is $0.05, or 12.5%, higher than the $0.40 KLA-Tencor paid in each of the preceding four quarters. Before that, it dispensed $0.35 per share.
The company has raised its dividend every year starting from 2010. Since that time, that payout has climbed steeply from $0.15 to the current level.
The new dividend annualizes to $1.80 per share. That yields 3.1% at KLA-Tencor's most recent closing stock price of $58.37.
