State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in KLA Corporation by 8.1%, selling 3,966 shares, leaving it with 45,269 shares valued at approximately $30.77 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on KLA, with TD Securities raising its target price from $770.00 to $800.00 and other analysts providing ratings ranging from "buy" to "hold" with an average target price of $890.59.
• KLA recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.90 per share, with a total annualized dividend yield of 0.9%, and initiated a stock repurchase program allowing up to $5.00 billion in buybacks.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,269 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 3,966 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in KLA were worth $30,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the 1st quarter valued at about $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,674,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,479,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $93,624,000 after buying an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,035.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $890.59.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 8,049 shares of the business'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 approximately $10,488,132.72. This represents a 41.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,908 shares of company stock worth $18,038,659 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock traded down $2.2260 on Wednesday, reaching $873.8540. 507,921 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,155,974. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $903.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $782.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.31 billion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.44.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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

KLA announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.