KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Sells $536,118.00 in Stock

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

KLA Trading Up 1.8 %

KLAC stock traded up $12.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $716.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,191,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,177. The company has a market cap of $96.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $440.15 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $807.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $725.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,480 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $843,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,559,000. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its position in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $811,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $805.29.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.