KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Sold by Roberts Capital Advisors LLC

Roberts Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 50.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 614 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 614 shares during the quarter. Roberts Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $662,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,087 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,251,000 after purchasing an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 9 shares in the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in KLA by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 836 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $902,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its stake in KLA by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised 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 last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Stock Up 0.8%

KLAC stock opened at $1,465.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $192.03 billion, a PE ratio of 42.62, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,457.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,233.32. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.20 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research increased their target price 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. Zacks Research raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,500.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,601.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About KLA

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.