Plato Investment Management Ltd Reduces Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• Plato Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in KLA Corporation by 18.8%, selling 1,533 shares and owning a total of 6,642 shares valued at approximately $4,564,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Captrust Financial Advisors and Gotham Asset Management LLC, increased their holdings in KLA during the past quarter, indicating ongoing investor interest in the semiconductor stock.
• KLA reported impressive quarterly earnings with an EPS of $9.38, exceeding estimates, and has set a Q1 2026 EPS guidance ranging from $7.760 to $9.300.

Plato Investment Management Ltd lowered its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,642 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,533 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd's holdings in KLA were worth $4,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,263 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $2,056,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 10,839 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $6,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,135 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $14,577,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in KLA by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 131,032 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $82,597,000 after acquiring an additional 2,249 shares during the period. Finally, Numerai GP LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,155,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $920.00 price objective (up from $870.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $950.00 price target (up previously from $850.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, August 1st. 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 note on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $890.59.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC opened at $917.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $903.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $795.89. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $959.26. The stock has a market cap of $121.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.60 earnings per share. The firm'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. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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