Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Has $793,000 Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC cut its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,635 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of KLA by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,733,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,288,651,000 after buying an additional 47,838 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in KLA by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,168,666 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,948,742,000 after purchasing an additional 180,374 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 1,414.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,870,976 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615,391 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of KLA by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,950,724 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,177,840,000 after purchasing an additional 715,425 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,133,396,000 after purchasing an additional 268,104 shares during the last quarter. 85.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,360.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 66 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.30, for a total value of $31,369.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,041,694.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total value 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 approximately $1,755,360.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,986 shares of company stock valued at $22,071,950 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $450.00 to $535.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on KLA from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price target on KLA from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $463.11.

KLA Stock Down 5.4 %

KLA stock traded down $25.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $454.22. 2,831,537 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,069,655. The business has a fifty day moving average of $486.47 and a 200 day moving average of $438.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.24. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $250.20 and a 12-month high of $520.19. The firm has a market cap of $62.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The semiconductor company reported $5.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.26 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 138.06% and a net margin of 32.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.81 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, September 5th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 14th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.59%.

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.