Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Makes New $163.95 Million Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 543,401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,950,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 900.0% in 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 bought a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group set a $240.00 target price on KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 target price (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.70.

KLA Stock Down 0.0%

KLA stock opened at $183.77 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,322,505. This trade represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. Company insiders own 91.48% 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.