Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 691,039 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,109 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.51% of KLA worth $569,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in KLA by 2,033.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $751.50 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $785.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $753.88. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a market cap of $101.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $990.00 to $960.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $815.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

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.