Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC Purchases 21,126 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 917.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,428 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 21,126 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for about 1.8% of Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $7,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co increased its stake in KLA by 829.7% in the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,763,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,522,430,000. 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 worth $259,164,000 after acquiring an additional 779,317 shares during the period. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 600.7% during the second quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 31,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,522,000 after acquiring an additional 27,057 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares in the company, valued at $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Trading Up 0.8%

KLAC opened at $172.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $225.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.98, a PEG ratio of 1.52 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 $83.22 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $208.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $188.46.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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