KLA Corporation $KLAC Holdings Cut by Jensen Investment Management Inc.

Jensen Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 262,493 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 126,535 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up 3.5% of Jensen Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Jensen Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.20% of KLA worth $283,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 28.6% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth about $59,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $1,630.00 price target on KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $1,500.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Citic Securities raised their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $1,350.00 in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,598.96.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC opened at $1,430.84 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,357.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,151.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $187.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.47. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.20 EPS. Research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

KLA Profile

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.