Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 25 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $753,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. 9258 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $210,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in KLA by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,041 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in KLA by 103.1% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 23,397 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,600,000 after acquiring an additional 11,878 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 1,267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $737,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $360,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’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 transaction of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 1.8 %

KLAC opened at $758.85 on Friday. 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. 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 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Argus lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.80.

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.