JT Stratford LLC Makes New $1.21 Million Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

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JT Stratford LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,772 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $1,205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,564,622 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $9,221,230,000 after acquiring an additional 80,154 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,259,543,000 after acquiring an additional 404,634 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in KLA by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,061,878,000 after acquiring an additional 204,330 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in KLA by 95,141.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,138,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in KLA by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,586,781 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,078,526,000 after acquiring an additional 131,620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded down $2.11 on Friday, reaching $870.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 946,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,155,207. The firm has a market cap of $114.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $904.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $785.37. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $959.26. 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 (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.08 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.60 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 25.01%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $830.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $890.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $84,805,950.24. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 8,049 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $7,354,210.32. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,479 shares in the company, valued at $10,488,132.72. This represents a 41.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,889 shares of company stock valued at $17,257,637. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Company 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.