KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Acquired by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,258.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,196 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in KLA by 298,176.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 599,111,883 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,758,046,000 after buying an additional 598,911,025 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 worth $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 KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,522,430,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 987.0% during the 2nd quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $295,486,000 after purchasing an additional 889,269 shares during the period. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 960.4% in the second quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,580,000 after purchasing an additional 839,265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $200.00 price target on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

KLA Trading Up 1.8%

KLAC traded up $3.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $188.98. 12,400,449 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,358,996. The stock has a market capitalization of $246.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.54, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $203.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $91.02 and a one year 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 the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

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.