Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Sells 588 Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV reduced its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,170 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 588 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in KLA by 95,141.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,674,347 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,138,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,589 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 1st quarter worth $348,822,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in KLA by 27.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,852,814 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,259,543,000 after acquiring an additional 404,634 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in KLA by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,262 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $750,638,000 after acquiring an additional 300,015 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $187,212,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 0.6%

KLAC opened at $955.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $901.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $779.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.44. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $959.26.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The semiconductor company reported $9.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.53 by $0.85. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.08 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 112.41% and a net margin of 33.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,801 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $913.68, for a total transaction of $9,868,657.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 92,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $84,805,950.24. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total transaction of $34,768.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,164. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,908 shares of company stock valued at $18,038,659 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of KLA from $1,035.00 to $1,060.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of KLA from $770.00 to $922.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $1,070.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $890.59.

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.