Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Sells 2,209 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co trimmed its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 68.9% 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 997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,209 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in KLA were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. United Community Bank lifted its position in shares of KLA by 4.0% in the first quarter. United Community Bank now owns 390 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 1.4% in the first quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 1,173 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 518 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of KLA by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $950.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $806.24.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was 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. Insiders sold a total of 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Trading Up 8.5 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $64.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $823.07. 1,792,984 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 912,120. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $809.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $720.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $440.15 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.12, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

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.