Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 8,010 KLA Corporation $KLAC

Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 8,010 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,677,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $183.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $240.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.38.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. The business’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. On average, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Citic Securities raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

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.