Aviance Capital Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

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

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in KLA by 95,141.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $1,138,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,589 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in KLA by 381.3% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 733,328 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $462,085,000 after purchasing an additional 580,967 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in KLA by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,262 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $750,638,000 after purchasing an additional 300,015 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $187,212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,291,492.34. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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. Insiders sold a total of 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Stock Down 0.7%

KLA stock traded down $6.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $914.70. The company had a trading volume of 489,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,135,561. The stock has a market cap of $120.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $928.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $803.85 and a 200 day moving average of $733.70.

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

KLA announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.