Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $33.78 Million Position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 49,686 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in KLA were worth $33,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in KLA by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 375 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 17.5% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 4,429 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its stake in KLA by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 1,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in KLA by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 65,003 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $40,960,000 after buying an additional 5,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in KLA by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 14,565 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $9,178,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total value of $781,022.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,779 shares in the company, valued at $21,291,492.34. The trade was a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,829 shares of company stock valued at $13,240,166. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock traded down $21.16 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $850.00. 2,347,795 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,127,279. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. KLA Corporation has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $914.83. The company has a market cap of $112.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $755.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $715.99.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.26 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $1.90 dividend. This is a positive change 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 0.89%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. TD Securities increased their price target on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $807.06.

About KLA

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.