KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Position Lifted by Cwm LLC

CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 23.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,709 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 707 shares during the quarter. CWM LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $2,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $1,175,756,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $187,212,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of KLA by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,455,161 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $916,926,000 after purchasing an additional 292,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $980.00 target price on the stock. 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. 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 research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of KLA from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $590.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $840.33.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded down $5.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $931.12. The stock had a trading volume of 682,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,136,345. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.54. The stock has a market cap of $123.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.42. The company's 50 day moving average price is $850.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $753.70. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $945.87.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, 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 have sold a total of 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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.