KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Purchased by Chesapeake Wealth Management

Chesapeake Wealth Management lifted its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,792.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,417 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,078 shares during the quarter. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in KLA by 6.8% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Motco grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $967,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their position. 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $170.89 on Wednesday. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.27. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $223.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.45.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. 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. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.07%.

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.