OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Sells 132 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora cut its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,504 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 132 shares during the period. KLA comprises approximately 1.4% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,133,396,000 after purchasing an additional 268,104 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 22.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after purchasing an additional 385,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $688.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other KLA 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded down $6.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $652.83. The stock had a trading volume of 174,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 951,567. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $684.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $591.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $355.88 and a 52 week 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.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. KLA’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.46%.

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.