Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of KLA Call Options (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors acquired 9,821 call options on the company. This is an increase of 52% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,464 call options.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 132,333 shares of company stock valued at $29,547,170 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of KLA by 978.2% in the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $259,164,000 after purchasing an additional 779,317 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 781.5% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $108,397,000 after purchasing an additional 318,520 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $265,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in KLA by 151.2% in the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $171,230,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in KLA by 6.2% in the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 104,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $112,721,000 after buying an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock traded down $13.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $216.72. The company had a trading volume of 3,837,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,492,608. KLA has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. The company has a market capitalization of $283.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.50, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $218.15 and a 200-day moving average of $175.09.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that KLA will post 3.62 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on KLA from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on KLA from $191.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $187.50 to $197.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.12.

KLA Company 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.