Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 2,452 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,452 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for 1.4% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 188,735 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $169,056,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $95,217,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in KLA by 5.8% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares during the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 98,398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $88,139,000 after purchasing an additional 12,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in shares of KLA by 5,697.9% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after purchasing an additional 95,554 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Trading Up 8.4%

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,442.62 on Friday. 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 52-week low of $551.33 and a 52-week high of $1,693.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,347.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,140.28. The stock has a market cap of $189.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.47.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. This represents 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 hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total transaction of $12,997,089.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 91.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore upped their price objective on KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Citic Securities increased their target price on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $1,350.00 in a report on Friday, November 7th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,500.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, January 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of KLA from $1,100.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,595.39.

KLA Company Profile

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.