Summit Global Investments Buys Shares of 1,159 KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,159 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $673,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Addison Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 163.9% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 95 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price 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. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $722.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $696.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $688.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $607.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.79 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.33. KLA Co. has a one year low of $369.66 and a one year high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 23.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

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.