Abacus FCF Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Abacus FCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 68,818 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $20,763,000. KLA makes up about 3.8% of Abacus FCF Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at $2,522,430,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in KLA by 978.2% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $259,164,000 after acquiring an additional 779,317 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in KLA by 781.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $108,397,000 after acquiring an additional 318,520 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in KLA by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $265,444,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Finally, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in KLA by 151.2% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $171,230,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts remain broadly optimistic on KLA, with Wells Fargo maintaining an “Overweight” rating. The company’s latest quarterly results also exceeded consensus estimates, with revenue of $3.66 billion and earnings of $1.05 per share. Is KLA a Buy as Wall Street Analysts Look Optimistic?
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional interest was mixed but included significant second-quarter additions by Invesco, Norges Bank, Capital International Investors and JPMorgan, potentially providing longer-term support for KLAC. KLA Falls as Investors Digest Guidance and Sector Pressure

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the firm's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This trade represents a 38.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 owned 263,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. New Street Research lifted their price objective on KLA from $146.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Scotiabank set a $200.00 target price on KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price target on KLA and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $223.70.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $187.27 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $244.68 billion, a PE ratio of 51.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $222.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.73. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. KLA's payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

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.

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