Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Greenspring Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 1,986.5% in the second quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 944.4% during the 2nd quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 917.7% in the 2nd quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,428 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,068,000 after buying an additional 21,126 shares during the period. Mayport LLC increased its stake in KLA by 840.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mayport LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 1,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in KLA by 1,015.8% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 8,067 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,434,000 after buying an additional 7,344 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $172.26 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $208.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.46. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. 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. Analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors 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%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

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.