KLA Corporation $KLAC Stock: TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Trims Holdings

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. reduced its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 327,562 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 236,638 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $65,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $376,000. Aspiriant LLC increased its stake in KLA by 20.8% in the third quarter. Aspiriant LLC now owns 1,438 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $314,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,937,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 343.5% during the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $8.72 on Friday, hitting $165.74. The company had a trading volume of 13,108,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,441,942. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $107.20 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $216.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.20, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $186.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $196.64.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) 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. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,970,908.80. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock worth $46,903,454 in the last 90 days. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded KLA from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.26.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management solutions used by semiconductor and electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect defects, measure and analyze materials and structures, and monitor manufacturing processes throughout the production of integrated circuits and other advanced electronic components.

The company’s product portfolio includes inspection and metrology systems, wafer and reticle inspection equipment, process-control software, data analytics tools, and related services.