TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co Acquires 6,654 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co increased its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 829.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up 1.4% of TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,249,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in KLA by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco raised its position in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its position in shares of 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 last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp boosted its stake in KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus upped their target price on KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citic Securities raised their target price on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, New Street Research boosted their price target on KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,996,990.71. This represents a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 156,499 shares of company stock worth $34,248,710 over the last 90 days. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven chip demand, rising global semiconductor sales and potential expansion of advanced manufacturing capacity—including a proposed Tesla-SpaceX “Terafab”—are supporting the outlook for KLA’s wafer-inspection and process-control equipment. KLA Stock Gains Amid Broad Semiconductor Rally, AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Fiera Capital added 1,209,718 KLA shares, more than doubling its previous position, according to a June 30 13F filing. The disclosure is a favorable institutional signal, although it reflects holdings from an earlier period rather than current trading. Fiera Capital Added KLA Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary remains constructive: KLA has a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with targets from several firms above recent trading levels. Wells Fargo also issued an Overweight rating, while TD Cowen raised its target to $260.
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The unchanged payout provides modest shareholder-return support, though its approximately 0.5% yield is unlikely to be a major price catalyst. KLA Declares Regular Cash Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s latest results beat expectations, with revenue up 15.2% year over year to $3.66 billion and EPS of $1.05 versus a $1.00 consensus estimate. However, those results were reported previously and are likely already reflected in the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Insiders continue to sell shares: Chief Accounting Officer Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares for about $881,000, while EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares for approximately $2.7 million. The sales add to a six-month pattern of insider selling without reported purchases.
• Negative Sentiment: KLA trades at a demanding valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio above 50. A slowdown in semiconductor capital spending or weaker-than-expected AI investment could therefore create downside risk.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $198.11 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $223.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.24. The stock has a market cap of $258.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.03, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. 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 $83.22 and a 12 month high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter 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. As a group, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 is 25.07%.

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.