Empowered Funds LLC Buys 18,557 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 140.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,788 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,557 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $21,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,564,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,221,230,000 after purchasing an additional 80,154 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 27.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,259,543,000 after purchasing an additional 404,634 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 95,141.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,138,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 18.0% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,645,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,026,983,000 after purchasing an additional 251,339 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 9.0% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,586,781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,078,526,000 after purchasing an additional 131,620 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 13,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $881.50, for a total value of $12,090,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,128,418. This represents a 33.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $9,868,657.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 92,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,805,950.24. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,605 shares of company stock valued at $29,348,291. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $908.98 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $903.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $795.04. The stock has a market cap of $119.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.48. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $959.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.85. The business had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.60 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 7.760-9.300 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,035.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $950.00 target price (up from $850.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $890.59.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.