Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Sells 87,568 Shares of Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at $154,970,908.80. This represents a 10.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

KLA Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $7.78 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $208.25. The company had a trading volume of 10,569,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,624,589. The company has a market capitalization of $272.09 billion, a PE ratio of 56.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $183.89. 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.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. New Street Research lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price objective on shares of KLA and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 900.0% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.