Investors Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 47,908 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 167% compared to the typical daily volume of 17,960 put options.

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 77,681 shares in the company, valued at $16,167,746.53. The trade was a 43.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard Wallace sold 87,568 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.95, for a total value of $17,421,653.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 778,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,970,908.80. The trade was a 10.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 219,173 shares of company stock worth $42,201,914 over the last three months. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in KLA by 928.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,821,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,471,832,000 after acquiring an additional 13,381,153 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,522,430,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in KLA by 239.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,614,990 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,094,530,000 after purchasing an additional 3,959,927 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in KLA by 5.3% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,113,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $997,000,000 after purchasing an additional 256,716 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in KLA by 899.4% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,634,859 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,096,673,000 after purchasing an additional 3,271,158 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KLAC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $238.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective (down from $190.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, October 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.35.

KLA Stock Down 4.0%

KLAC stock traded down $6.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $150.01. 3,643,893 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,196,197. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $177.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.89. The company has a market capitalization of $195.46 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.49. KLA has a twelve month low of $107.20 and a twelve month high of $307.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.04. KLA had a return on equity of 89.30% and a net margin of 36.25%. The business had revenue of $4.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that KLA will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.00%.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process control, inspection and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing industries. Its technologies help manufacturers identify defects, measure critical dimensions and monitor production processes to improve quality, reliability and manufacturing efficiency.

The company’s product portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect review and classification systems, and software for analyzing manufacturing data.