SG Americas Securities LLC Purchases 23,586 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 418.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 29,227 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 23,586 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $31,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth $36,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 7,100.0% in the second quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 72 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 334.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its holdings in KLA by 1,114.3% in the 2nd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 85 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on KLAC. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,485.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of KLA from $1,115.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,275.54.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,359.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.65 billion, a PE ratio of 42.69, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,212.95 and its 200 day moving average is $1,055.31. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,406.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.86%.

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.