Mary Beth Wilkinson Sells 13,802 Shares of KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $2,698,291.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,322,505. This trade represents a 38.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Mary Beth Wilkinson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, August 4th, Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 4,295 shares of KLA stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.59, for a total value of $822,879.05.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of KLA stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total value of $4,106,037.60.

KLA Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $193.22 on Friday. 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 cap of $252.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.69, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.22 and a 12 month high of $307.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $223.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.95.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 6 shares in the last quarter. Motco lifted its position in shares of KLA by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 17.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. SouthState Bank Corp boosted its holdings in KLA by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $135,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 305 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 8 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about KLA

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KLA’s board declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.23 per share, payable in September. The dividend reinforces shareholder returns and signals continued confidence in the company’s cash generation. KLA Declares Regular Cash Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: KLA recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.05 in EPS versus the $1.00 consensus and revenue of $3.66 billion, up 15.2% year over year. Guidance for the next quarter of $1.06 to $1.26 per share supports the growth outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: A broader semiconductor rally driven by artificial-intelligence optimism, strong memory demand and expectations for chip-industry earnings is favorable for KLA’s wafer-inspection and process-control equipment demand. Semiconductor Rally Powers S&P 500 to Fresh Record High
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a reported “Moderate Buy” consensus and several price targets above recent levels. However, KLA trades at a price-to-earnings ratio above 50, making the shares sensitive to any slowdown in semiconductor capital spending. KLA Stock Looks Fully Valued After Its Huge Run
• Negative Sentiment: Chief Accounting Officer Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares for approximately $881,000, while EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares worth about $2.70 million. The sales reduced their holdings by roughly 36% and 38%, respectively, adding to a pattern of insider selling, although some transactions were related to equity-award tax obligations.
• Negative Sentiment: DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reported cutting its KLA position by approximately 2.86 million shares, or 90%, as of June 30. Because the disclosure is delayed, it is not necessarily a current trading signal, but it may reinforce concerns about institutional profit-taking and KLA’s elevated valuation.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

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.