KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Acquired by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 4.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 111,795 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $21,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in KLA by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 75,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,045,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the period. Axecap Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 16.0% in the third quarter. Axecap Investments LLC now owns 25,380 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,947,000 after acquiring an additional 3,497 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 1.5% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 29,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,428,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 22.2% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 638 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its position in shares of KLA by 14.7% during the third quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KLAC. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 target price on KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $227.00 price target on KLA and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $221.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. The trade was a 38.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 243,339 shares of company stock valued at $46,903,454. 79.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $163.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $213.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.34. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $107.20 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process control, inspection and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing industries. Its technologies help manufacturers identify defects, measure critical dimensions and monitor production processes to improve quality, reliability and manufacturing efficiency.

The company’s product portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect review and classification systems, and software for analyzing manufacturing data.