EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,015 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1,414.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,870,976 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $109,085,000 after buying an additional 3,615,391 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $572,224,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in KLA by 32.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,950,724 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,177,840,000 after purchasing an additional 715,425 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in KLA by 22.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after purchasing an additional 385,420 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in KLA by 131.3% during the first quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 527,195 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $210,441,000 after purchasing an additional 299,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.49% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 0.5 %

KLAC opened at $456.51 on Tuesday. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $250.20 and a fifty-two week high of $520.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $486.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $439.08. The company has a market capitalization of $62.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The semiconductor company reported $5.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.26 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 138.06% and a net margin of 32.27%. The business’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.11 EPS for the current year.

KLA declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, September 5th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 14th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 21.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total transaction of $1,243,795.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,360.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 2,621 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $474.55, for a total value of $1,243,795.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,360.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 35,000 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $504.08, for a total value of $17,642,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,528,603.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 43,986 shares of company stock valued at $22,071,950. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Wolfe Research began coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, September 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on KLA from $445.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $450.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $410.00 to $535.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $463.11.

KLA Company 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.