Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Acquires 363 Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,923 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.'s holdings in KLA were worth $16,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the first quarter worth about $402,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 40.1% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,479,000. Keyvantage Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 2,616 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,740 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 have sold 11,860 shares of company stock worth $8,196,798 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC traded up $2.88 during trading on Thursday, reaching $936.37. 904,860 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,138,165. The company has a market capitalization of $123.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.42. 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 50 day moving average price of $841.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $748.68. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $942.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.01 billion. KLA had a net margin of 31.99% and a return on equity of 112.97%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 30th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its stock is 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 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 yield of 0.81%. KLA's payout ratio is currently 27.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on KLAC. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $830.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $790.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $840.33.

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.