TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Acquires 504,327 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 842.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 564,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 504,327 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $170,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its position in KLA by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Susquehanna set a $215.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $222.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of KLA 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 in the company, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470 over the last ninety days. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $172.94 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.90 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $206.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $188.65. 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 company has a market capitalization of $225.95 billion, a PE ratio of 47.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

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.