BlackRock Inc. Has $4.38 Billion Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

BlackRock Inc. lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,983,451 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 97,796 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. owned 0.08% of KLA worth $4,384,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $388,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its position in KLA by 13.8% during the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 256 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,307 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC grew its stake in KLA by 2.1% during the first quarter. Retirement Guys Formula LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 85.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on KLA from $445.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of KLA from $450.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on KLA from $480.00 to $570.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $455.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $504.08, for a total value of $17,642,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,528,603.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.08, for a total value of $17,642,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,528,603.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total transaction of $1,243,795.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,360.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,486 shares of company stock valued at $21,817,465. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Trading Down 4.9 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded down $24.95 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $488.52. 124,578 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,058,357. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $484.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $250.20 and a 12-month high of $520.19.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The semiconductor company reported $5.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.26 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 138.06% and a net margin of 32.27%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.11 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 14th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 21.59%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA 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.