Plato Investment Management Ltd Makes New $12.14 Million Investment in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 40,481 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,142,000. KLA makes up about 0.7% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,522,430,000. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 900.0% in the second quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,280 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 2,052 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in KLA by 781.5% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 359,277 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $108,397,000 after purchasing an additional 318,520 shares during the last quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. raised its holdings in KLA by 600.7% during the second quarter. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. now owns 31,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,522,000 after purchasing an additional 27,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth approximately $262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $240.00 price target on shares of KLA and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on KLA from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.70.

Key KLA News

Here are the key news stories impacting KLA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha upgraded KLA to a “Buy,” arguing that the stock’s recent selloff has improved its risk-reward profile. The company’s latest quarterly results also showed resilient fundamentals, with revenue increasing 15.2% year over year and earnings exceeding consensus estimates. After A Punishing July, KLA Stock Is Now A Buy
• Positive Sentiment: A TCW investment letter highlighted KLA’s positioning to benefit from increasing semiconductor complexity, including advanced process control, AI infrastructure and sophisticated chip packaging. KLA also has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target above its recent trading level. KLA Positioned to Benefit from Semiconductor Chip Complexity
• Neutral Sentiment: KLA’s quarterly dividend remains $0.23 per share, payable September 1 to shareholders of record August 17. The dividend provides a modest shareholder return, but its approximately 0.4% yield is unlikely to be a major near-term catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Executive selling remains a notable overhang. EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares worth approximately $12.4 million, reducing his ownership by 43.4%. CEO Richard Wallace also recently sold 87,568 shares for about $17.4 million. Quiver data shows 14 open-market insider sales and no purchases over the past six months. KLA Insider Sale SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Broad semiconductor weakness is also pressuring KLAC. Shares of Broadcom and Applied Materials fell sharply, dragging technology ETFs such as VOO and QQQ and weighing on semiconductor-equipment peers. Investors remain concerned about near-term margins, supply constraints and the possibility that the chip cycle is approaching a peak. KLA Drops 9% in a Month

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $203.72 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $223.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $185.06. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $83.22 and a one year high of $307.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88. The firm has a market cap of $266.17 billion, a PE ratio of 55.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced 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 business 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 earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’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. Analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. KLA’s payout ratio is 25.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total value of $880,532.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total value of $7,359,878.69. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 258,533 shares of company stock worth $55,977,470. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Company 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.