GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 40.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,463 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after buying an additional 705 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in KLA were worth $1,674,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $796,000. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in KLA by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 67,202 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $42,346,000 after acquiring an additional 6,327 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in KLA by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 5,867 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,697,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 2,585 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,629,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. raised its stake in KLA by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 705 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded KLA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price target on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on KLA from $868.00 to $916.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $818.06.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total value 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 represents a 3.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This trade represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $3.11 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $898.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,079,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,130,612. 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 stock's 50-day moving average is $784.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $726.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.42. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $914.83.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. The company 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%. KLA's revenue for the quarter was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. This is a positive change from KLA's previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.63%.

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

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.