IPG Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 12,770 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,853,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Formuepleje A S grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1,125.5% in the second quarter. Formuepleje A S now owns 30,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,070,000 after acquiring an additional 27,609 shares during the period. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co lifted its position in KLA by 829.7% during the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Abacus FCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the second quarter worth approximately $20,763,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,522,430,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 978.2% during the 2nd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 858,984 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $259,164,000 after buying an additional 779,317 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, EVP MaryBeth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at $4,322,505. The trade was a 38.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $70,001,875.68. This trade represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 213,413 shares of company stock worth $45,990,744 in the last 90 days. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 price target on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Scotiabank set a $200.00 target price on KLA in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 price target (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $222.22.

KLA Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $182.91 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $238.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.88, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $91.49 and a one year high of $307.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $199.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.05. KLA had a net margin of 35.57% and a return on equity of 87.66%. The company had revenue of $3.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.23 per share. 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. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.07%.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) develops process-control and yield-management technologies used by semiconductor and other advanced-electronics manufacturers. Its systems help customers detect, measure and analyze defects and variations during the production of integrated circuits, enabling manufacturers to improve process performance, product quality and manufacturing yields.

The company’s portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect-review and analysis equipment, and software that supports process control and data management.