WBI Investments LLC Trims Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

WBI Investments LLC reduced its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 71.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,211 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the first quarter worth about $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 40.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,674,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,479,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in KLA by 2.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,624,000 after buying an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the first quarter worth approximately $55,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total value of $9,868,657.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,805,950.24. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,348,291. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $959.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.48. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $963.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $904.97 and a 200-day moving average of $798.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 112.41% and a net margin of 33.41%.The business’s revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.60 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 25.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $790.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $920.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $890.59.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.