Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Sells $822,879.05 in Stock

Key Points

• KLA EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 4,295 shares for approximately $822,879 at an average price of $191.59, reducing her ownership by 10.68%. The sale was made to cover tax withholding related to vested equity awards.
• KLA recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.05 in EPS and $3.66 billion in revenue, with revenue up 15.2% year over year. The stock traded at $195.45, while analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $223.70.
• Institutional investors own approximately 86.65% of KLA’s shares, with several funds recently increasing stakes or establishing new positions.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 4,295 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.59, for a total transaction of $822,879.05. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,912 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,880,380.08. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Mary Beth Wilkinson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, July 1st, Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock traded up $12.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $195.45. The stock had a trading volume of 13,235,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,682,409. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm's 50 day moving average is $223.67 and its 200 day moving average is $182.05. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. KLA's payout ratio is currently 25.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Argus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citic Securities boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $223.70.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in KLA by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $4,937,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $117,676,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $119,618,000. Highland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,128,000. Finally, KTF Investments LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $863,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

About KLA

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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