Inspire Investing LLC Has $10.26 Million Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Inspire Investing LLC reduced its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,440 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,760 shares during the quarter. KLA comprises about 1.2% of Inspire Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $10,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at about $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in KLA by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in KLA by 25.7% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of KLA by 136.2% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,667,000 after buying an additional 178,474 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price target on KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.80.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $731.04 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $440.15 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $776.57 and its 200-day moving average is $754.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.