PDT Partners LLC Has $1.41 Million Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• PDT Partners LLC reduced its holdings in KLA Corporation by 46.9%, totaling 2,073 shares valued at approximately $1.41 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in KLA, with First Manhattan Co. LLC. boosting its holdings by 14.2% during the same period.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded their target prices on KLA, with firms like Barclays setting a target of $750 and Citigroup increasing theirs to $1,060.

PDT Partners LLC lessened its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 46.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,073 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,828 shares during the quarter. PDT Partners LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $1,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in KLA by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 867 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 3,394 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,499 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,862 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $6,844,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $700,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. Wall Street Zen downgraded KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price 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 increased their price target on KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $890.59.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded up $8.51 on Monday, hitting $913.60. 318,733 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,135,239. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $903.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $793.96. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $959.26. The firm has a market cap of $120.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.48.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.85. KLA had a return on equity of 112.41% and a net margin of 33.41%.The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.60 EPS. KLA'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. On average, research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. The trade was a 1.47% 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, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total value of $9,868,657.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,818 shares in the company, valued at $84,805,950.24. This represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,605 shares of company stock worth $29,348,291. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

About KLA

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.