Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 5,834 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 54.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,511 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,834 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $14,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its stake in KLA by 4,100.0% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 42 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in KLA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 7,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 72 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of KLAC opened at $1,214.46 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,146.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $985.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.13, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.44. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $1,284.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,704,954.10. The trade was a 11.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Evercore ISI upped their target price on KLA from $1,000.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,100.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Citic Securities raised their price target on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $1,350.00 in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on KLA from $1,070.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,243.81.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of process control, process-enabling, and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty Semiconductor Process; and PCB and Component Inspection.