KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,601,171 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the January 15th total of 3,040,627 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 23.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Currently, 23.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 52.7% in the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 397 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. raised its position in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,179 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in KLA by 1.7% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 25,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,699,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,191 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,450.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,598.96.

KLA Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $6.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $1,470.19. 622,785 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,279,270. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,382.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,170.96. The firm has a market cap of $192.71 billion, a PE ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

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.