KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Gap Down on Insider Selling

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $233.31, but opened at $217.12. KLA shares last traded at $215.5260, with a volume of 1,826,442 shares traded.

Specifically, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at $15,225,605.10. This represents a 21.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $275.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research lowered KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned 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 $280.34.

KLA Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $279.40 billion, a PE ratio of 60.54, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $213.01 and its 200 day moving average is $170.82. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

KLA declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $119,618,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 151.2% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $171,230,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $32,812,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in KLA by 839.9% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 25,940 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,826,000 after buying an additional 23,180 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in KLA by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 91,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $111,910,000 after buying an additional 21,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.