KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Sells 59,586 Shares

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC traded down $5.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $203.72. The company had a trading volume of 7,342,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,585,980. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $223.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.71. The stock has a market cap of $266.17 billion, a PE ratio of 55.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase 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 25.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Monetary Management Group Inc. grew its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the second quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,380,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $934,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in KLA by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $444,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.