Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 939 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 75.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,177 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 939 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Amundi lifted its position in shares of KLA by 18.0% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,645,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,026,983,000 after purchasing an additional 251,339 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in KLA by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 381,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,317,000 after buying an additional 49,390 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 188,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $169,056,000 after buying an additional 2,117 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 115,372 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $76,804,000 after buying an additional 15,330 shares during the period. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $95,217,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,704,954.10. This trade represents a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $1,276.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $167.65 billion, a PE ratio of 40.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The business’s 50-day moving average is $1,191.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,027.72. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,284.47.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.47 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. KLA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 107.26%. The company’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.33 EPS. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,115.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on KLA from $1,200.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on KLA from $820.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $1,100.00 to $1,500.00 in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,275.54.

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.