Norway Savings Bank Grows Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Norway Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 838.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,589 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for approximately 1.9% of Norway Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Monetary Management Group Inc. increased its stake in KLA by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 3,773 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,380,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the period. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in KLA by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $934,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $90,000. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in KLA by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,118 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,584,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Mile Advisory bought a new position in KLA in the third quarter worth approximately $444,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA News Roundup

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.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 14,392 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.30, for a total transaction of $4,106,037.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,367 shares in the company, valued at $15,225,605.10. This trade represents a 21.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 156,499 shares of company stock valued at $34,248,710. Company insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $253.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $180.00 price target (up from $170.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.70.

KLA Stock Performance

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

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. KLA’s 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 year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

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.