State of Alaska Department of Revenue Reduces Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 9.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,970 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,630 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in KLA were worth $18,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,480 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,511,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,450 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $4,559,000. State of Michigan Retirement System increased its stake in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $23,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $15,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,692 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI started coverage on KLA in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $747.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,905 shares of company stock worth $16,831,966 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $14.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $853.33. 440,454 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 898,864. The company has a market capitalization of $114.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $440.15 and a 12 month high of $876.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $770.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $686.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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