Bridges Investment Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Bridges Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,207 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 491 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $45,868,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at $348,822,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 27.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,259,543,000 after acquiring an additional 404,634 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in KLA by 18.0% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,645,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,026,983,000 after acquiring an additional 251,339 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 53.3% during the first quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 389,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $264,343,000 after purchasing an additional 135,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of KLA by 9.0% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,586,781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,078,526,000 after purchasing an additional 131,620 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 6.0%

KLAC stock opened at $1,087.01 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $143.14 billion, a PE ratio of 35.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $972.95 and a 200-day moving average of $856.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.62. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,155.00.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The business’s revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.60 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.01%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 8,049 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $7,354,210.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,488,132.72. This represents a 41.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 13,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $881.50, for a total value of $12,090,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 27,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,128,418. The trade was a 33.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,566 shares of company stock worth $29,313,522 over the last three months. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on KLA from $1,000.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of KLA from $922.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of KLA from $980.00 to $1,120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,009.40.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.