KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Bought by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,467 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 371 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KLAC. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $820.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $747.40.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $853.33 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $440.15 and a 1 year high of $876.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. The company has a market capitalization of $114.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.70, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s fifty day moving average is $770.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $686.67.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.49 EPS. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 23.3 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.68%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

About KLA

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.