KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Purchased by Optimize Financial Inc.

Optimize Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 896.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,768 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,684 shares during the quarter. KLA comprises about 2.2% of Optimize Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Optimize Financial Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $6,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in KLA by 36.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on KLAC shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.22.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $185.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.61, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $87.83 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $205.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $188.93.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.