KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Purchased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 978.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 779,317 shares during the quarter. KLA comprises about 0.7% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in KLA were worth $259,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 829.7% during the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,249,000 after buying an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 1,126.5% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,851,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655 shares during the period. Norway Savings Bank raised its stake in KLA by 838.3% in the 2nd quarter. Norway Savings Bank now owns 15,210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,589,000 after acquiring an additional 13,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in KLA by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $117,676,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 2.7%

KLAC opened at $192.74 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $223.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $183.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.56, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The company’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, research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 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 transaction of $880,532.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 111,379 shares of company stock valued at $26,154,182 in the last three months. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.