Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 978.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 779,317 shares during the period. KLA comprises 0.7% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.07% of KLA worth $259,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the second quarter worth $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was 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, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 111,379 shares of company stock worth $26,154,182 over the last ninety days. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $192.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $223.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.55. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.22 and a 52-week high of $307.37. The company has a market cap of $251.77 billion, a PE ratio of 52.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $253.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Berenberg Bank upped their target price on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price target on KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

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.