KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Acquired by Greenspring Advisors LLC

Greenspring Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,986.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during the quarter. Greenspring Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 944.4% in the second quarter. Aletheian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615 shares during the period. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 917.7% in the 2nd quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,428 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,068,000 after purchasing an additional 21,126 shares during the last quarter. Mayport LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 840.4% in the 2nd quarter. Mayport LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 1,015.8% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 8,067 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,434,000 after purchasing an additional 7,344 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 867.6% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 1,074 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. One research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $172.26 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $208.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.46. The company has a market capitalization of $225.07 billion, a PE ratio of 46.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.22 and a 52-week high of $307.37.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

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