Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Sells 19 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. trimmed its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 615 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 19 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in KLA were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,480 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,511,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in KLA by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $843,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,559,000. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in KLA by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in KLA by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $15,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,692 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $824.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $759.32 and a 200-day moving average of $680.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. The stock has a market cap of $111.01 billion, a PE ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $876.55.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total transaction of $803,563.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,726,714.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,726,714.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total transaction of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares in the company, valued at $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 22,861 shares of company stock valued at $16,795,913. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $747.40.

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.