Yousif Capital Management LLC Sells 1,663 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,905 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,663 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $12,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 12.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in KLA by 10.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in KLA by 52.8% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $696.58.

Insider Transactions at KLA

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

KLA Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of KLAC traded up $8.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $656.83. The stock had a trading volume of 537,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 952,336. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $684.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $597.19. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $355.88 and a 12 month high of $729.15. The company has a market capitalization of $88.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $7.38 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

KLA 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.