Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Sells $2,698,291.00 in Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Mary Beth Wilkinson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 4th, Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 4,295 shares of KLA stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.59, for a total transaction of $822,879.05.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60.

KLA Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $198.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $258.79 billion, a PE ratio of 54.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.05. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given 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 is currently 25.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 900.0% during the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Basepoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

About KLA

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.