Close Asset Management Ltd Invests $133.21 Million in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 123,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,209,000. KLA comprises about 3.0% of Close Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in KLA by 28.6% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC grew its position in KLA by 2,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 86 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KLAC. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $1,750.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $1,450.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,601.04.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $1,524.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,422.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,196.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

About KLA

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.