KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.
KLA Stock Down 1.0%
Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $233.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $304.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $213.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.82. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.22 and a 1 year high of $307.37.
KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a return on equity of 91.89% and a net margin of 35.66%.The business had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.37 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
KLA Cuts Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is 26.06%.
KLA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
KLAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research cut KLA from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $325.00 target price on KLA and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $280.34.
View Our Latest Report on KLAC
Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew 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 buying an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco lifted its position in KLA by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $492,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted 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 acquiring an additional 7 shares during the period. SouthState Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.
KLA Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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