Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management increased its KLA stake by 781.5% in the second quarter to 359,277 shares valued at approximately $108.4 million, making KLA its largest holding. Institutional investors collectively own 86.65% of the company.
• KLA exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.05 in EPS and $3.66 billion in revenue, with revenue up 15.2% year over year. Analysts expect $5.42 in EPS for the current fiscal year.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $223.70, while recent insider sales totaled 111,379 shares worth $26.2 million.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 781.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 318,520 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up approximately 1.8% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings, making the stock its biggest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in KLA were worth $108,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in KLA by 978.2% in the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $259,164,000 after purchasing an additional 779,317 shares in the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $119,618,000. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 151.2% in the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $171,230,000 after buying an additional 70,000 shares during the period. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 848.3% in the 2nd quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 45,860 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $13,836,000 after buying an additional 41,024 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 959.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,363 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $11,273,000 after buying an additional 33,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $200.47 on Wednesday. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $83.22 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $223.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,379 shares of company stock worth $26,154,182. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $240.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and issued a $195.00 price target (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $223.70.

KLA 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.

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