Range Advisory LLC Buys 5,196 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Range Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,222.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,621 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,196 shares during the period. Range Advisory LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Basepoint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 17.1% during 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 raised its position in KLA by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 60 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, EVP MaryBeth 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,322,505. The trade was a 38.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on KLAC shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $222.22.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $185.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.03. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $87.83 and a 1-year high of $307.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $203.64 and a 200 day moving average of $189.20. The firm has a market cap of $242.50 billion, a PE ratio of 50.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

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.