Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 287 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total value of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,726,714.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,905 shares of company stock valued at $16,831,966. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $820.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $747.40.

KLA Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of KLAC traded up $4.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $857.72. The stock had a trading volume of 655,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,898. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $795.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $699.88. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $440.15 and a 1-year high of $896.32. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $115.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

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.