KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Richard Wallace Sells 87,568 Shares of Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $208.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $272.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.79, a PEG ratio of 1.54 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’s 50 day moving average is $223.44 and its 200 day moving average is $184.30. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.22 and a 12 month high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth about $2,522,430,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in KLA by 978.2% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in KLA by 781.5% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $108,397,000 after purchasing an additional 318,520 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its position in KLA by 151.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Berenberg Bank increased their price target on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

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.