Insider Selling: KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Sells $880,532.00 in Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

KLA Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $198.11 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $258.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $223.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $183.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.22 and a 52 week high of $307.37.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.07%.

Key KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven chip demand, rising global semiconductor sales and potential expansion of advanced manufacturing capacity—including a proposed Tesla-SpaceX “Terafab”—are supporting the outlook for KLA’s wafer-inspection and process-control equipment. KLA Stock Gains Amid Broad Semiconductor Rally, AI Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Fiera Capital added 1,209,718 KLA shares, more than doubling its previous position, according to a June 30 13F filing. The disclosure is a favorable institutional signal, although it reflects holdings from an earlier period rather than current trading. Fiera Capital Added KLA Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst commentary remains constructive: KLA has a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with targets from several firms above recent trading levels. Wells Fargo also issued an Overweight rating, while TD Cowen raised its target to $260.
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The unchanged payout provides modest shareholder-return support, though its approximately 0.5% yield is unlikely to be a major price catalyst. KLA Declares Regular Cash Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s latest results beat expectations, with revenue up 15.2% year over year to $3.66 billion and EPS of $1.05 versus a $1.00 consensus estimate. However, those results were reported previously and are likely already reflected in the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: Insiders continue to sell shares: Chief Accounting Officer Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares for about $881,000, while EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares for approximately $2.7 million. The sales add to a six-month pattern of insider selling without reported purchases.
• Negative Sentiment: KLA trades at a demanding valuation, with a price-to-earnings ratio above 50. A slowdown in semiconductor capital spending or weaker-than-expected AI investment could therefore create downside risk.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of KLA from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Citic Securities lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $135.00 to $197.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

Institutional Trading of KLA

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

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.