Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Purchases 1,312 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 12.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,963 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,312 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,393 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in KLA by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $936,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $739.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $99.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a one year low of $440.15 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $779.79 and its 200-day moving average is $754.41.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. Raymond James raised their price target on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Susquehanna cut their price target on KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $812.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About KLA

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.