Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Grows Stock Position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 27.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,105 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 438 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 381 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Souders Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of KLA by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 431 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of KLA from $870.00 to $868.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $807.06.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $871.16 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $747.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $713.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $914.83. The company has a market cap of $115.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.40.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.01 billion. KLA had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 112.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.26 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,829 shares of company stock valued at $13,240,166 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.