Manchester Global Management UK Ltd Reduces Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Manchester Global Management UK Ltd lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 29,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up approximately 4.3% of Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Manchester Global Management UK Ltd’s holdings in KLA were worth $24,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,112,261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,159,832,000 after acquiring an additional 76,226 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in KLA by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after acquiring an additional 386,810 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in KLA by 1.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,811,766 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,318,329,000 after acquiring an additional 28,172 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in KLA by 2.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,618,709 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,829,352,000 after acquiring an additional 71,289 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in KLA by 7.9% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,113,352 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $917,970,000 after acquiring an additional 81,335 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $761.27 on Tuesday. KLA Co. has a one year low of $440.15 and a one year high of $896.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $771.04 and a 200 day moving average of $755.55. The company has a market capitalization of $102.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.88, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. 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 is currently 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.