KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar Sells 39 Shares

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $914.70 on Friday. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $928.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $803.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $732.99. The firm has a market cap of $120.96 billion, a PE ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.54 and a quick ratio of 1.74.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.26 EPS. KLA’s revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 27.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen boosted their price target on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. TD Securities lifted their price objective on KLA from $770.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $818.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in KLA by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,564,622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,221,230,000 after purchasing an additional 80,154 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,273,118,000 after purchasing an additional 14,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,046,472,000 after buying an additional 31,608 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth $1,175,756,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,259,543,000 after buying an additional 404,634 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.