Diversified Trust Co Buys 179 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,996 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the quarter. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,577,847,000 after purchasing an additional 133,821 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in KLA by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after acquiring an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,048,728,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in KLA by 10.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $581,496,000 after acquiring an additional 117,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $820.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $747.40.

KLA Stock Up 0.4 %

KLA stock opened at $827.79 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $111.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $440.15 and a 1-year high of $876.55. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $759.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $681.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.14, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.49 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 23.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,726,714.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,861 shares of company stock valued at $16,795,913 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA 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.