KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Short Interest Update

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 40,762,347 shares, a growth of 1,060.6% from the May 31st total of 3,512,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,024,592 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days. Approximately 36.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 7.6%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $258.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $338.07 billion, a PE ratio of 73.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 1.50. KLA has a 1 year low of $83.22 and a 1 year high of $269.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $201.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $164.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11.

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

KLA Cuts Dividend

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on KLA from $170.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $305.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Monday. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.26.

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.