KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Purchased by Grove Bank & Trust

Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 15.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 695 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in KLA were worth $472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 95,141.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,138,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,589 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 381.3% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $462,085,000 after acquiring an additional 580,967 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 114,444.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 342,488 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $215,809,000 after acquiring an additional 342,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,262 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $750,638,000 after acquiring an additional 300,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on KLAC shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $800.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on KLA from $870.00 to $868.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $807.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,740 shares in the company, valued at $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. The trade was a 19.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,829 shares of company stock worth $13,240,166 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $893.00 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $744.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $712.21. KLA Corporation has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $914.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.40.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 27.63%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.