Insider Selling: KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Sells 825 Shares of Stock

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock opened at $752.29 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $803.89 and a 200-day moving average of $726.53. The company has a market capitalization of $101.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27. 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 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of KLA

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $235,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in KLA by 163.8% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,166 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in KLA by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,138,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 41,874 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $24,341,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 2,490 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $805.29.

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.