KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Purchased by GAMMA Investing LLC

Key Points

• GAMMA Investing LLC increased its KLA stake by 959% in the second quarter, ending with 37,363 shares valued at approximately $11.27 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 86.65% of KLA.
• KLA exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.05 in EPS on $3.66 billion in revenue, with revenue up 15.2% year over year. The company issued next-quarter EPS guidance of $1.06–$1.26 and declared a $0.23-per-share dividend.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $223.70, but the stock’s valuation is elevated at a P/E ratio above 50. Recent insider and institutional selling may add caution despite the positive outlook.

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 959.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,363 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,835 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $11,273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $135,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $193.22 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.69, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. KLA's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $223.70.

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KLA’s board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share, payable in September. The dividend reinforces shareholder returns and signals continued confidence in the company’s cash generation. KLA Declares Regular Cash Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: KLA recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.05 in EPS versus the $1.00 consensus and revenue of $3.66 billion, up 15.2% year over year. Guidance for the next quarter of $1.06 to $1.26 per share supports the growth outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: A broader semiconductor rally driven by artificial-intelligence optimism, strong memory demand and expectations for chip-industry earnings is favorable for KLA’s wafer-inspection and process-control equipment demand. Semiconductor Rally Powers S&P 500 to Fresh Record High
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a reported “Moderate Buy” consensus and several price targets above recent levels. However, KLA trades at a price-to-earnings ratio above 50, making the shares sensitive to any slowdown in semiconductor capital spending. KLA Stock Looks Fully Valued After Its Huge Run
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares for approximately $881,000, while EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares worth about $2.70 million. The sales reduced their holdings by roughly 36% and 38%, respectively, adding to a pattern of insider selling, although some transactions were related to equity-award tax obligations.
• Negative Sentiment: DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reported cutting its KLA position by approximately 2.86 million shares, or 90%, as of June 30. Because the disclosure is delayed, it is not necessarily a current trading signal, but it may reinforce concerns about institutional profit-taking and KLA’s elevated valuation.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,499 shares of company stock worth $34,248,710. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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