Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,988 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,807,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in KLA by 928.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,471,832,000 after purchasing an additional 13,381,153 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,522,430,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its position in KLA by 960.4% during the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,580,000 after buying an additional 839,265 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in KLA by 978.2% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,164,000 after buying an additional 779,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter worth about $163,950,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was 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 directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $175.45 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $211.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $188.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.85, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’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, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA 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.