Park Avenue Securities LLC Lowers Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,618 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 233 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 27,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $21,206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in KLA by 2.7% in the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 11,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,291,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in KLA by 41,062.2% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 99,201 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $81,792,000 after acquiring an additional 98,960 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in KLA by 106.3% during the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 689 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,935,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $804.81.

KLA Stock Up 1.7 %

KLA stock traded up $12.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $787.39. The stock had a trading volume of 757,463 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,023. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $768.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $760.04. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $449.35 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $106.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

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.