Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 917.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,428 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 21,126 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up 1.8% of Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $7,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.8% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the period. Motco boosted its stake in KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position 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 valued at $967,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed 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 given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.
KLA Price Performance
KLAC stock opened at $172.26 on Thursday. 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 $225.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.46. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The firm 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 firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
KLA Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.07%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. The trade was a 38.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
KLA Company 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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