KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Position Lifted by Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 10.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after acquiring an additional 85,370 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $1,175,756,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in KLA by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,061,878,000 after acquiring an additional 204,330 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $795.39.

KLA Trading Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $856.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $113.28 billion, a PE ratio of 36.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $717.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $703.79. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.63%.

KLA declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,829 shares of company stock valued at $13,240,166. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company 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.