Commerce Bank Cuts Stock Position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Commerce Bank lowered its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 13.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,680 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 890 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in KLA were worth $3,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,674,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $1,479,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in KLA by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $93,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities increased their target price on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on KLA from $1,035.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on KLA from $775.00 to $960.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $890.59.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $886.64 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $117.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.44. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $945.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $875.07 and a 200 day moving average of $769.31.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $8.53 by $0.85. KLA had a net margin of 33.41% and a return on equity of 112.41%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.60 earnings per share. KLA's revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This is an increase from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.01%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at $21,291,492.34. This represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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 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.

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