Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Sells 59,586 Shares

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the company’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 value of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

KLA Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of KLAC traded down $5.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $203.72. The stock had a trading volume of 7,342,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,585,980. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $184.71. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.22 and a 12 month high of $307.37. 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 has a market capitalization of $266.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.45.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco boosted its position in KLA by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp grew its stake in KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, July 20th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

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.