Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC Has $493,000 Stock Holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 30.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 725 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 315 shares during the period. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in KLA by 40.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,674,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the first quarter worth about $1,479,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of KLA by 2.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 138,990 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $93,624,000 after purchasing an additional 3,846 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were 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 position. The sale 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 the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer 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 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 corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $790.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $818.06.

KLA Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC 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 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 simple moving average of $803.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $733.70. The company has a market capitalization of $120.96 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. KLA Corporation has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $928.02.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. The firm 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 business's revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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%.

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.