KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Acquired by Paragon Capital Management Ltd

Paragon Capital Management Ltd boosted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,020 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,718 shares during the quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in KLA were worth $911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in KLA by 298,176.3% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 599,111,883 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $180,758,046,000 after buying an additional 598,911,025 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 928.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,471,832,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381,153 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $2,522,430,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 987.0% during the second quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 979,371 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $295,486,000 after purchasing an additional 889,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its position in shares of KLA by 960.4% in the 2nd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 926,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $279,580,000 after purchasing an additional 839,265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $3.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $188.98. 12,400,449 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,358,996. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $91.02 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $201.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $189.49. 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 has a market cap of $246.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.54, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Equities analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on KLA from $215.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $222.22.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This trade represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.