Plato Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 40,481 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,142,000. KLA makes up approximately 0.7% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna set a $215.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on KLA from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Citic Securities raised their price objective on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

Key Headlines Impacting KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded KLA to a “Buy,” arguing that the stock’s recent selloff has improved its risk-reward profile. The company’s latest quarterly results also showed resilient fundamentals, with revenue increasing 15.2% year over year and earnings exceeding consensus estimates. After A Punishing July, KLA Stock Is Now A Buy
• Positive Sentiment: A TCW investment letter highlighted KLA’s positioning to benefit from increasing semiconductor complexity, including advanced process control, AI infrastructure and sophisticated chip packaging. KLA also has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target above its recent trading level. KLA Positioned to Benefit from Semiconductor Chip Complexity
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s quarterly dividend remains $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The dividend provides a modest shareholder return, but its approximately 0.4% yield is unlikely to be a major near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Executive selling remains a notable overhang. EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares worth approximately $12.4 million, reducing his ownership by 43.4%. CEO Richard Wallace also recently sold 87,568 shares for about $17.4 million. Quiver data shows 14 open-market insider sales and no purchases over the past six months. KLA Insider Sale SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Broad semiconductor weakness is also pressuring KLAC. Shares of Broadcom and Applied Materials fell sharply, dragging technology ETFs such as VOO and QQQ and weighing on semiconductor-equipment peers. Investors remain concerned about near-term margins, supply constraints and the possibility that the chip cycle is approaching a peak. KLA Drops 9% in a Month

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $203.72 on Monday. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.22 and a 1 year high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $223.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.06. The company has a market capitalization of $266.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend payout ratio 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.