Trust Point Inc. Purchases 4,771 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Trust Point Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 930.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,284 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 4,771 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in KLA by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 180,279 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $265,444,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its position in shares of KLA by 151.2% during the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 116,292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $171,230,000 after acquiring an additional 70,000 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 96,846 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $117,676,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $119,618,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in KLA by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 92,704 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $136,498,000 after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at $1,558,526. The trade was a 36.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 27,701 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.69, for a total transaction of $7,359,878.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 263,472 shares in the company, valued at approximately $70,001,875.68. This represents a 9.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 156,499 shares of company stock valued at $34,248,710 over the last ninety days. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their target price on KLA from $210.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Scotiabank set a $200.00 target price on KLA in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of KLA 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.70.

KLA Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $198.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $258.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.03, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.45. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $223.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.05.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. 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 company 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. 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. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 25.07%.

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.