Courier Capital LLC Cuts Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Courier Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 503 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $572,224,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after acquiring an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in KLA by 22.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after acquiring an additional 385,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in KLA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,133,396,000 after acquiring an additional 268,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in KLA by 6,309.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 250,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,410,000 after acquiring an additional 246,244 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $696.87 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $657.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $566.45. The company has a market capitalization of $94.24 billion, a PE ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $7.38 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.74 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. New Street Research assumed coverage on KLA in a research report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday. Susquehanna lowered KLA from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $640.00 to $675.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $641.05.

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.