Kraft Davis & Associates LLC Grows Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Kraft Davis & Associates LLC boosted its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 876.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,548 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,082 shares during the period. Kraft Davis & Associates LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of KLA by 928.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,471,832,000 after buying an additional 13,381,153 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,522,430,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of KLA by 960.4% during the second 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 last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of KLA by 978.2% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth $177,385,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,970,908.80. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $172.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $225.07 billion, a PE ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $208.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.22 and a 1 year high of $307.37.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm 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 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

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.