Heartland Bank & Trust Co Takes $3.34 Million Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 11,082 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,344,000. KLA accounts for approximately 0.7% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co raised its holdings 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 valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of KLA by 978.2% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,164,000 after purchasing an additional 779,317 shares in the last quarter. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,763,000. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 600.7% in the 2nd quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 31,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,522,000 after buying an additional 27,057 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,522,430,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 in the last three months. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 1.0%

KLAC opened at $183.99 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.39 billion, a PE ratio of 50.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $220.05 and its 200 day moving average is $186.01.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Citic Securities upped their price target on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, July 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.70.

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.