300 Shares in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Bought by Lipe & Dalton

Lipe & Dalton acquired a new position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 300 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 272.4% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 916 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its holdings in KLA by 551.3% during the 1st quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 6,181 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,202,000 after purchasing an additional 5,232 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,677,000 after purchasing an additional 3,952 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Napatree Capital LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 1st quarter worth about $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,164. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,740 shares in the company, valued at $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $3.44 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $933.64. 145,311 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,132,730. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $846.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $750.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $123.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.42. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $950.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

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

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 27.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on KLA from $868.00 to $916.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Barclays cut their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $725.00 target price (down previously from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $840.33.

About KLA

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.