KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Sold by Norris Perne & French LLP MI

Key Points

• Norris Perne & French LLP MI trimmed its stake in KLA by 21.1% in Q4, selling 4,127 shares and ending the quarter with 15,453 shares worth about $18.78 million.
• KLA beat Q4 estimates with $8.85 EPS (vs. $8.75 est.) and $3.30 billion in revenue, reported strong margins and ROE, and its board authorized a $7.00 billion share buyback (up to 3.7% of outstanding shares) while paying a $1.90 quarterly dividend.
• The stock trades near its 52‑week high with a market cap of about $231.85 billion, and analysts have an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $1,614.79 after several recent target increases.

Norris Perne & French LLP MI lowered its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 21.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,453 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 4,127 shares during the quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI's holdings in KLA were worth $18,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in KLA in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 28.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

KLA Stock Up 1.8%

KLAC stock opened at $1,768.78 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $1,488.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,329.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $607.70 and a fifty-two week high of $1,771.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.46, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.44.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.20 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Argus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $1,835.00 target price on shares of KLA and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,800.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,614.79.

KLA Profile

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA's offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.

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