Fiera Capital Corp Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Fiera Capital Corp lessened its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,492 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 1,168 shares during the quarter. Fiera Capital Corp's holdings in KLA were worth $4,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $530,630,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its stake in KLA by 6,309.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 250,147 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $145,410,000 after acquiring an additional 246,244 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $132,189,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in KLA by 12.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of KLA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday. They set a "buy" rating and a $820.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $727.15.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock traded down $1.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $747.68. The company had a trading volume of 585,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,826. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $404.80 and a 1 year high of $763.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $100.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $692.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $623.03.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,284 shares of company stock valued at $17,260,138 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.

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