Exchange Capital Management Inc. Sells 385 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• Exchange Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in KLA Corporation by 2.9%, selling 385 shares and leaving it with 12,683 shares valued at approximately $11.36 million.
• Brokerages have recently increased their price targets for KLA, with Oppenheimer raising it from $740 to $950, while JPMorgan chased a higher target of $1,070.
• The company reported earnings of $9.38 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with a significant revenue increase of 23.6% year-over-year at $3.17 billion.

Exchange Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,683 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 385 shares during the period. KLA comprises about 1.7% of Exchange Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Exchange Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in KLA were worth $11,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management grew its position in shares of KLA by 4,100.0% in the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 42 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $950.00.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,139.26 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $1,155.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $944.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $834.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $0.85. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.60 EPS. The business's revenue was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. Analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. KLA's payout ratio is presently 25.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 8,049 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total value of $7,354,210.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 11,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,488,132.72. The trade was a 41.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $9,868,657.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at $84,805,950.24. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,566 shares of company stock worth $29,313,522. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.

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