Bren Higgins Sells 27,701 Shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock traded down $2.24 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $233.31. The company had a trading volume of 12,030,466 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,543,373. The company has a quick ratio of 2.11, a current ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $211.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.04. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The stock has a market cap of $304.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.04, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The business had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 26.06%.

Institutional Trading of KLA

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Citic Securities upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. New Street Research upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on KLA from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten 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 target price of $280.34.

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.