Traders Purchase High Volume of Put Options on KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders acquired 17,110 put options on the company. This is an increase of 181% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,081 put options.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,996,990.71. This trade represents a 5.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 132,333 shares of company stock worth $29,547,170. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd 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 stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $187.50 to $197.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of KLA from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.80.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock traded down $9.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $222.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,932,170 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,571,163. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $216.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $290.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.03, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. KLA has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 26.06%.

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.