Arizona State Retirement System Acquires 327,713 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 910.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 363,713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 327,713 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up about 0.5% of Arizona State Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in KLA were worth $109,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the period. Motco increased its holdings in KLA by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its position in KLA by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp raised its position in KLA by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 796 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $967,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on KLAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America upped their target price on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $245.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

KLA Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $3.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $188.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,400,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,358,996. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.20. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $91.02 and a 52 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. The company has a market cap of $246.91 billion, a PE ratio of 51.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share 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 represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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 through this link. Also, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total transaction of $17,421,653.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 778,944 shares in the company, valued at $154,970,908.80. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.