Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 5,655 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1,126.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,655 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $58,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

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.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $198.11 on Monday. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $83.22 and a 12-month high of $307.37. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $223.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.79 billion, a PE ratio of 54.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Argus increased their price target on shares of KLA from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $240.00 price objective on KLA and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on KLA from $140.00 to $186.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $250.00 target price on KLA and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $223.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 13,802 shares of the 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 $2,698,291.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,322,505. This represents a 38.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 156,499 shares of company stock valued at $34,248,710. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.