Wedmont Private Capital Grows Stock Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 936.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,136 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,193 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in KLA were worth $6,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in KLA by 928.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,471,832,000 after buying an additional 13,381,153 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $2,522,430,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 987.0% during the 2nd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $295,486,000 after acquiring an additional 889,269 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its position in shares of KLA by 960.4% during the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,580,000 after acquiring an additional 839,265 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of KLA by 978.2% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $259,164,000 after acquiring an additional 779,317 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on KLA from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $185.60 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $205.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.93. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $87.83 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The stock has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a PE ratio of 50.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,970,908.80. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.