Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in KLA Corporation $KLAC

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

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Activest Wealth Management boosted its position in KLA by 4,100.0% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 42 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth about $32,000. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in KLA during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its holdings in KLA by 7,100.0% during the second quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 72 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on KLA from $1,060.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $1,260.00 price objective on KLA in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $1,115.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,275.54.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $1,276.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.69. The firm has a market cap of $167.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,191.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,027.72. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,284.47.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.33 earnings per share. KLA has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 7.920-9.480 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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

About KLA

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.