KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Bought by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 781.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 318,520 shares during the period. KLA makes up about 1.8% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in KLA were worth $108,397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 target price on KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $200.47 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $223.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $183.89. The company has a market capitalization of $261.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’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 value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,379 shares of company stock valued at $26,154,182. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.