KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by HBK Sorce Advisory LLC

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC trimmed its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 52 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 0.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 47,838 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after purchasing an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 22.8% in 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 lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after purchasing an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, March 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America raised their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $664.72.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $687.12 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $92.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $676.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $583.22.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.38 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.74 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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