Investors Buy High Volume of KLA Put Options (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Key Points

• Unusual bearish options activity: Investors bought 12,634 KLA put options, about 64% above the average daily volume of 7,723.
• Insider selling increased: KLA’s CFO and CEO sold shares, contributing to 132,333 shares worth $29.5 million sold by insiders over the past quarter.
• Shares fell while analysts remained generally positive: KLA dropped $10.24 to $193.12, but analysts maintained a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $218.41. The company recently reported revenue growth of 11.5% year over year and earnings above estimates.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 12,634 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 64% compared to the average daily volume of 7,723 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total transaction of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,996,990.71. This represents a 5.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 132,333 shares of company stock worth $29,547,170 over the last quarter. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 900.0% in the second quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 100 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $10.24 on Tuesday, hitting $193.12. The stock had a trading volume of 5,878,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,480,406. The company has a market capitalization of $252.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.41. KLA has a twelve month low of $83.22 and a twelve month high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.03. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $223.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.56.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The semiconductor company reported $9.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $8.48. KLA had a net margin of 35.66% and a return on equity of 91.89%. The company had revenue of $3.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 8.870-10.870 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that KLA will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on KLA from $150.50 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of KLA from $200.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $240.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $218.41.

KLA Company 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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