Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 9,072 KLA Corporation $KLAC

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 9,072 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,737,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Monetary Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the second quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,380,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 1.6% during the second quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 13.8% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $444,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, 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 value of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 in the last three months. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock opened at $183.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.01. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.39 billion, a PE ratio of 50.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue 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, research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 target price (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.