KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Acquired by Allworth Financial LP

Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 865.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 207,372 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 185,894 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in KLA were worth $62,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Motco increased its position in KLA by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $492,000 after buying an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $967,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA stock in a transaction 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 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on KLAC. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One 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 MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

KLA Trading Up 1.8%

KLAC stock traded up $3.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $188.98. 12,400,449 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,358,996. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.91 billion, a PE ratio of 51.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $203.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.20. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $91.02 and a 52-week high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue 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, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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