Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 12,634 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average daily volume of 7,723 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on KLAC. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on KLA from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of KLA from $190.00 to $274.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $218.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,996,990.71. This trade represents a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. This represents a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 132,333 shares of company stock worth $29,547,170. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of KLA

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position 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 valued at $259,164,000 after acquiring an additional 779,317 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in KLA by 781.5% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 0.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,444,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted 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 worth $171,230,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,676,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded down $10.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $193.12. The company had a trading volume of 5,878,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,480,406. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.56. The company has a market capitalization of $252.26 billion, a PE ratio of 54.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.41. KLA has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. KLA’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. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.06%.

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.