KLA Corporation $KLAC Stock: Vest Financial LLC Trims Holdings

Vest Financial LLC lessened its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 463,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 62,789 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up about 0.9% of Vest Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $90,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 36.4% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.8% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 2,275.0% in the second quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 95 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomic Invest LLC boosted its position in KLA by 781.8% during the second quarter. Atomic Invest LLC now owns 97 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.26.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $163.43 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.34. The stock has a market cap of $213.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45. 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 Corporation has a 1-year low of $107.20 and a 1-year high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $2,698,291.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock worth $46,903,454. 79.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process control, inspection and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing industries. Its technologies help manufacturers identify defects, measure critical dimensions and monitor production processes to improve quality, reliability and manufacturing efficiency.

The company’s product portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect review and classification systems, and software for analyzing manufacturing data.