KLA Corporation $KLAC Stock Holdings Lifted by Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC

Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 901.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 103,626 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up about 3.1% of Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $34,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syon Capital LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 916.6% in the 2nd quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 22,019 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,643,000 after acquiring an additional 19,853 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH raised its stake in shares of KLA by 387.5% during the second quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH now owns 4,202 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after acquiring an additional 3,340 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 842.3% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 564,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $170,225,000 after purchasing an additional 504,327 shares during the period. Syntax Research Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Syntax Research Inc. now owns 290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1,036.6% in the second quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,070 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,435,000 after purchasing an additional 7,360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 0.4%

KLAC stock opened at $172.94 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.90 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The company has a market capitalization of $225.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $206.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $188.65. 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’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. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Scotiabank set a $200.00 target price on KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

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.