NEOS Investment Management LLC Buys 889,269 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 987.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 889,269 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up about 1.1% of NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $295,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in KLA by 900.0% during the second 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 KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were 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 directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $172.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $206.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.65. KLA Corporation has a 52-week low of $83.90 and a 52-week high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $225.95 billion, a PE ratio of 47.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, July 31st. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Company 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.