Aviance Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC decreased its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 23.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,427 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 735 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $1,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 0.7% during the first quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,370 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $3,651,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 2.4% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,195,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 25.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 212,699 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $144,593,000 after buying an additional 42,961 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 1.8% during the first quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,540,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Novem Group boosted its holdings in KLA by 19.6% during the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 2,288 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,555,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Trading Down 0.8%

KLA stock traded down $7.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $917.57. The company had a trading volume of 87,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,193,048. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $928.02. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $803.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $734.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.54.

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

KLA announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. This is an increase from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. KLA's payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,164. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 78,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,860 shares of company stock worth $8,196,798. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $830.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. 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 research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $868.00 to $916.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $818.06.

KLA 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.