Bleakley Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 774 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. State Street Corp grew its holdings in KLA by 0.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in KLA by 6.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,133,396,000 after acquiring an additional 268,104 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of KLA by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after purchasing an additional 385,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Berenberg Bank lifted their price target on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $664.72.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $690.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $672.55 and a 200 day moving average of $580.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $93.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.08, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $355.88 and a 1 year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.38 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.46%.

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.