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

Key Points

• Unusually heavy put-option activity hit KLA, with traders buying 39,161 put contracts on Monday — about 1,456% above the stock’s typical daily put volume.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on the semiconductor equipment maker, with 20 Buy ratings and 10 Hold ratings; several firms recently raised price targets to $200, while MarketBeat shows a consensus target of $342.44.
• CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares for about $10 million, even as KLA reported strong quarterly results and maintained a stock buyback plan authorizing up to $7 billion in repurchases.

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 39,161 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,456% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,517 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank set a $200.00 price objective on KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citic Securities upped their price objective on KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $342.44.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 45,120 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.34, for a total value of $9,986,725.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 713,830 shares in the company, valued at $157,996,990.71. The trade was a 5.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Aventura Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Stock Up 0.8%

KLAC stock traded up $2.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $256.68. 9,950,192 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,818,369. The firm's 50-day moving average is $186.37 and its 200-day moving average is $155.72. The company has a market cap of $335.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.56, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.11. KLA has a 12 month low of $83.22 and a 12 month high of $265.43.

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

KLA Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.06%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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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