Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Buys 5,655 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,126.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 5,655 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $119,618,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its holdings in KLA by 151.2% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $171,230,000 after purchasing an additional 70,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in KLA by 959.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,363 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $11,273,000 after purchasing an additional 33,835 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $32,812,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 839.9% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 25,940 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,826,000 after buying an additional 23,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. New Street Research upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.70.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $198.11 on Monday. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $83.22 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $223.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven chip demand, rising global semiconductor sales and potential expansion of advanced manufacturing capacity—including a proposed Tesla-SpaceX “Terafab”—are supporting the outlook for KLA’s wafer-inspection and process-control equipment. KLA Stock Gains Amid Broad Semiconductor Rally, AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Fiera Capital added 1,209,718 KLA shares, more than doubling its previous position, according to a June 30 13F filing. The disclosure is a favorable institutional signal, although it reflects holdings from an earlier period rather than current trading. Fiera Capital Added KLA Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary remains constructive: KLA has a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with targets from several firms above recent trading levels. Wells Fargo also issued an Overweight rating, while TD Cowen raised its target to $260.
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The unchanged payout provides modest shareholder-return support, though its approximately 0.5% yield is unlikely to be a major price catalyst. KLA Declares Regular Cash Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s latest results beat expectations, with revenue up 15.2% year over year to $3.66 billion and EPS of $1.05 versus a $1.00 consensus estimate. However, those results were reported previously and are likely already reflected in the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Insiders continue to sell shares: Chief Accounting Officer Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares for about $881,000, while EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares for approximately $2.7 million. The sales add to a six-month pattern of insider selling without reported purchases.
• Negative Sentiment: KLA trades at a demanding valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio above 50. A slowdown in semiconductor capital spending or weaker-than-expected AI investment could therefore create downside risk.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the firm’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 $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 156,499 shares of company stock worth $34,248,710 in the last three months. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA 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.