Graham Capital Management L.P. Sells 4,102 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in KLA Corporation by 46.3%, selling 4,102 shares and now owning 4,764 shares valued at approximately $3.24 million.
• KLA's share price recently opened at $872.00, with an annual range between $551.33 and $959.26, indicating significant price fluctuations.
• The company reported a strong quarterly performance, with $9.38 EPS exceeding expectations and a revenue surge of 23.6% year-over-year, totaling $3.17 billion.

Graham Capital Management L.P. trimmed its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 46.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,764 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 4,102 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in KLA were worth $3,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,674,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,479,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $93,624,000 after acquiring an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $980.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $920.00 price objective (up previously from $870.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $890.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 13,716 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $881.50, for a total value of $12,090,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,128,418. The trade was a 33.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,348,291 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of KLA stock traded down $2.45 on Wednesday, reaching $843.90. 933,631 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 879,451. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $903.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $791.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $111.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $959.26.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. KLA's payout ratio is presently 25.01%.

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.