Compass Financial Management LLC Invests $3.36 Million in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,162 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,356,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in KLA by 900.0% in the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, July 20th. UBS Group set a $240.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,605.10. The trade was a 21.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 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 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 90 days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $183.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $240.39 billion, a PE ratio of 50.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.01. 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 52-week low of $83.22 and a 52-week high of $307.37.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

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

KLA 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.