Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Has $20.14 Million Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,425 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,943 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $20,139,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in KLA by 2,033.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in KLA in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Trading Down 1.8 %

KLAC opened at $758.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $102.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $772.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $755.00. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $440.15 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.80.

KLA Company 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.