Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Sells $17,421,653.60 in Stock

Posted by Brian Himes on Aug 15th, 2026

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $17,421,653.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $203.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $184.84. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.22 and a 52-week high of $307.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.56, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco boosted its position in KLA by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 17.1% during 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 during the period. SouthState Bank Corp increased 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 valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded KLA to a “Buy,” arguing that the stock’s recent selloff has improved its risk-reward profile. The company’s latest quarterly results also showed resilient fundamentals, with revenue increasing 15.2% year over year and earnings exceeding consensus estimates. After A Punishing July, KLA Stock Is Now A Buy
Positive Sentiment: A TCW investment letter highlighted KLA’s positioning to benefit from increasing semiconductor complexity, including advanced process control, AI infrastructure and sophisticated chip packaging. KLA also has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target above its recent trading level. KLA Positioned to Benefit from Semiconductor Chip Complexity
Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s quarterly dividend remains $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The dividend provides a modest shareholder return, but its approximately 0.4% yield is unlikely to be a major near-term catalyst.
Negative Sentiment: Executive selling remains a notable overhang. EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares worth approximately $12.4 million, reducing his ownership by 43.4%. CEO Richard Wallace also recently sold 87,568 shares for about $17.4 million. Quiver data shows 14 open-market insider sales and no purchases over the past six months. KLA Insider Sale SEC Filing
Negative Sentiment: Broad semiconductor weakness is also pressuring KLAC. Shares of Broadcom and Applied Materials fell sharply, dragging technology ETFs such as VOO and QQQ and weighing on semiconductor-equipment peers. Investors remain concerned about near-term margins, supply constraints and the possibility that the chip cycle is approaching a peak. KLA Drops 9% in a Month

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KLAC. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Scotiabank set a $200.00 target price on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on KLAC

About KLA

(Get Free Report)

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.