By Nivedita B. and Akash S. Sriram

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc plans to seek approval from investors to increase its share count to allow a stock split that would be in the form a dividend. The electric-car manufacturer said Monday, pushing its shares up by about 5%.

Its board has approved the proposal and shareholders will vote at the annual meeting. This stock split, if it is approved by its board, will be the most recent after a five to one split in August 2020 which made Tesla (NASDAQ) shares more affordable for employees and investors.

After a rally in technology shares caused by pandemics, Alphabet (NASDAQ) Inc, Amazon.com Inc(NASDAQ:) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ) have recently split their shares in order to make them less expensive.

Telsa’s 2010 debut price was $17 per share. It is now trading at over $1,000. The stock has risen 128% in the past year since it was split. This makes Telsa the most valuable U.S. automobile manufacturer by market capitalization, surpassing $1 trillion.

David Trainer (CEO of New Constructs, an investment research company) stated that “this stock split” could increase the Tesla stock market bubble.

Tesla is the largest producer of electric vehicles in America, with nearly 1 million cars delivered annually. Despite increasing competition from startup and legacy carmakers, Tesla continues to grow its production and has set up factories in Austin and Berlin.

Craig Irwin, Roth Capital analyst, stated, “We believe Berlin will ramp up and both MiniCar India is on the horizon. We would agree with that timing.” He also suggested that stocks are often split when there’s good news.

Tesla also informed workers and suppliers Monday of the closure of its Shanghai factory. It was closing for four days because Tesla said that mass COVID-19 testing would be performed in its two-stage lockdown.