BNP Paribas Acquires 368 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

BNP Paribas boosted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in KLA were worth $2,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keyvantage Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at about $217,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,419 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,541,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 36.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. Invenio Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invenio Wealth Partners LLC now owns 464 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey Wright & Associates bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $292,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KLA announced a $7 billion buyback, raised its quarterly dividend ~21% (to $2.30), and reaffirmed March?quarter guidance — a direct shareholder?friendly action that typically supports the stock and EPS per share over time. PR Newswire: KLA Hosts Investor Day; Announces $7 Billion Repurchase and Dividend Increase
• Positive Sentiment: Oppenheimer raised its price target from $1,800 to $1,900 and kept an outperform rating — a bullish analyst signal that increases upside expectations for investors. TickerReport: Oppenheimer raises KLAC price target
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA hosted Investor Day (slides and presentations available). The event reinforced management messaging on demand drivers (AI/advanced packaging) and capital allocation, providing detail but not changing guidance. Useful for longer?term thesis but less of an immediate shock. Seeking Alpha: KLA Investor Day Slideshow
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry pieces (Zacks, Yahoo/MarketBeat) reiterate KLA’s exposure to accelerating wafer?fabrication and AI chip demand; these reinforce the secular growth story but are broader?market context rather than new company?specific catalysts. Zacks: Industry outlook / stock commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary has revived speculation about a possible stock split given the share price level and recent capital returns; this is speculative and would be a sentiment boost if announced. MarketBeat: 3 Stocks That Could Be Next to Announce a Stock Split
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies trimmed its price target to $1,700 (from $1,850) while keeping a buy rating — a modestly negative signal that tempers upside expectations and may limit near?term analyst momentum despite the buyback. Benzinga: Jefferies lowers KLAC price target
• Negative Sentiment: Some intraday/technical commentary flagged a pullback in recent sessions (short?term volatility reports); investors should watch near?term profit?taking given the stock’s strong multi?quarter run. Zacks: Sector commentary and recent price action

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,418.64 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $1,464.40 and a 200 day moving average of $1,240.74. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $1,693.35. The company has a market cap of $185.96 billion, a PE ratio of 41.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.20 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on KLAC. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,450.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,602.29.

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.