Values First Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Values First Advisors Inc. lessened its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 24.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 684 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $2,288,651,000 after buying an additional 47,838 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in KLA by 10.4% during the first 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 period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 22.8% during the first 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in KLA by 3.5% during the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of KLA stock traded up $1.70 during trading on Thursday, hitting $698.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,080,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,964. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $660.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $567.36. The stock has a market cap of $94.47 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $355.88 and a 12 month high of $729.15.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on KLAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $685.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $625.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $641.05.

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.