denkapparat Operations GmbH Grows Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

denkapparat Operations GmbH raised its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 387.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,202 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 3,340 shares during the quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 928.9% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,471,832,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381,153 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,522,430,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 987.0% in the 2nd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $295,486,000 after purchasing an additional 889,269 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its position in shares of KLA by 960.4% in the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $279,580,000 after purchasing an additional 839,265 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 978.2% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $259,164,000 after purchasing an additional 779,317 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on KLAC shares. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 target price on KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, 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. One 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KLA Trading Up 0.4%

KLA stock opened at $172.94 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.90 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The company has a market capitalization of $225.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $206.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $188.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The company’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 25.07%.

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.