Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Buys Shares of 543,401 KLA Corporation $KLAC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 543,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,950,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co lifted its position in KLA by 829.7% in the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at $20,763,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,522,430,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake 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 worth $259,164,000 after buying an additional 779,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. raised its stake in shares of KLA by 600.7% in the 2nd quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 31,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,522,000 after buying an additional 27,057 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value 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 approximately $154,970,908.80. This trade represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $2,698,291.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. The trade was a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of KLAC opened at $183.77 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $214.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.66. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $240.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $83.22 and a 1-year high of $307.37.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

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.