Nykredit A S bought a new stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 587,933 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,385,000.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Motco raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity
In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 over the last ninety days. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
KLA Price Performance
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
KLA Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Citic Securities increased their target price on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 target price on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.
View Our Latest Research Report on KLA
KLA Profile
KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.
Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.
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