Lipe & Dalton Acquires New Holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Lipe & Dalton purchased a new position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after purchasing an additional 85,370 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after purchasing an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after purchasing an additional 31,608 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,175,756,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,061,878,000 after purchasing an additional 204,330 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $920.00 price target (up previously from $870.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $840.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 2,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,291,492.34. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC traded down $5.96 on Friday, hitting $931.12. 682,033 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,135,475. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $950.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $850.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $752.85. The stock has a market cap of $123.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.42.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 112.97%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.26 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is a boost from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. KLA's payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.