Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Sells $8,094,528.00 in Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Richard Wallace sold 4,512 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,794.00, for a total transaction of $8,094,528.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 75,895 shares in the company, valued at $136,155,630. This represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,892.94 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,636.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,435.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $247.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $740.44 and a 1 year high of $1,939.36.

KLA’s stock is scheduled to split before the market opens on Friday, June 12th. The 10-1 split was announced on Thursday, May 7th. The newly minted shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, June 11th.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.17 by $0.23. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.41 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 37.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $2.30 per share. This represents a $9.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.90. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,460.00 to $1,770.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,575.00 to $1,835.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,838.48.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Monetary Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,380,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.6% in the second quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of KLA by 13.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in KLA by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KLA’s latest quarter showed strong fundamentals: earnings beat estimates, revenue topped forecasts, and management’s guidance remained solid, reinforcing the view that demand for its chip process-control tools is still healthy.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are getting more constructive on KLA’s role in AI semiconductor spending, with commentary suggesting the company could be a major beneficiary as advanced packaging and process-control demand rises. Is KLA Becoming the Biggest Beneficiary of AI Semiconductor Spending?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst actions have also supported sentiment, including a higher price target from Rothschild & Co Redburn and a broader “Moderate Buy” consensus from brokerages.
• Positive Sentiment: Investor-friendly capital returns remain a tailwind, with KLA highlighting its 17th straight dividend increase and an existing $7 billion buyback authorization, both of which signal confidence in cash flow.
• Neutral Sentiment: Attention is also on KLA’s upcoming 10-for-1 stock split, which is drawing interest but does not change the company’s underlying value.
• Negative Sentiment: One possible headwind is recent insider selling by CEO Richard Wallace, which may prompt some short-term caution even though the sale was relatively small versus his remaining stake.

About KLA

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.