KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by Leisure Capital Management

Leisure Capital Management lowered its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,616 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 547 shares during the quarter. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,521,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in KLA by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,668 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $23,059,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Chico Wealth RIA raised its stake in shares of KLA by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Chico Wealth RIA now owns 3,870 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,870 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 48.7% in the 4th quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 43,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,277,000 after acquiring an additional 14,251 shares during the period. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd raised its stake in shares of KLA by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One SA PTY Ltd now owns 15,620 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,080,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,715 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $750.00 price target (up previously from $625.00) on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $720.42.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $33.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $706.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,193,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,545. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $685.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $599.79. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $369.00 and a 52 week high of $729.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 103.31%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.49 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.