Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich Raises Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich grew its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 428.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,978 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100,532 shares during the period. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich’s holdings in KLA were worth $37,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 7.3%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $185.60 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a 12 month low of $87.83 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The stock has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.63.

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, 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 business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s 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, research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA 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.