Lowery Thomas LLC Grows Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Lowery Thomas LLC raised its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 900.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,090 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 5,481 shares during the quarter. KLA comprises 0.9% of Lowery Thomas LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Lowery Thomas LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Carter Financial Group INC. bought a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Leo H. Evart Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 911.5% in the second quarter. Leo H. Evart Inc. now owns 263 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $905,000. Greenspring Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 1,986.5% in the second quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC now owns 3,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,026,000 after acquiring an additional 3,238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in KLA by 944.4% during the 2nd quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $172.26 on Thursday. 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 $225.07 billion, a PE ratio of 46.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $208.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.46.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citic Securities increased their price target on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.