Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 967.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,048 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 7,294 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of KLA by 928.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 13,381,153 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,522,430,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its stake in KLA by 960.4% during the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,580,000 after purchasing an additional 839,265 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in KLA by 978.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,164,000 after buying an additional 779,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth approximately $163,950,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $175.45 on Tuesday. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $211.31 and a 200 day moving average of $188.11.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted 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 return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the firm’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 value of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. The trade was a 10.11% 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 worth $55,977,470. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $240.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $253.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.70.

KLA 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.