Heartland Bank & Trust Co Takes $3.34 Million Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Heartland Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 11,082 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,344,000. KLA comprises 0.7% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in KLA by 6.8% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 6 shares during the last quarter. Motco increased its position in shares of KLA by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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. SouthState Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the 4th 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 period. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 2.7% during 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 during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total value of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,167,746.53. This trade represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 258,533 shares of company stock valued at $55,977,470. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 1.0%

KLAC stock opened at $183.99 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $220.05 and a 200-day moving average of $186.01. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.22 and a fifty-two week high of $307.37. The company has a market capitalization of $240.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.17, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.88.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.61 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 87.66% and a net margin of 35.57%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. KLA has set its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.060-1.260 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 5.42 earnings per share 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 $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 25.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $195.00 price target (down from $220.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. One equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

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.