Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Buys Shares of 1,975 KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,975 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,244,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in KLA by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $8,496,833,000 after purchasing an additional 85,370 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,606,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,273,118,000 after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,253,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,046,472,000 after acquiring an additional 31,608 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,175,756,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,685,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,061,878,000 after acquiring an additional 204,330 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,803,042. The trade was a 12.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of 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 target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $802.74.

KLA Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $805.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $682.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $686.53. The company has a market cap of $106.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.40. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.26 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 27.63%.

KLA Company Profile

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.