Paragon Capital Management Ltd Has $911,000 Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Paragon Capital Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,020 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,718 shares during the period. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in KLA were worth $911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC traded up $3.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $188.98. The stock had a trading volume of 12,400,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,358,996. The business has a 50-day moving average of $201.39 and a 200-day moving average of $189.49. 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 $91.02 and a one year high of $307.37. The stock has a market cap of $246.91 billion, a PE ratio of 51.54, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.23 dividend. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. The trade was a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on KLA from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.22.

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.