Transce3nd LLC Sells 465 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Transce3nd LLC lowered its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 93.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 465 shares during the quarter. Transce3nd LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $32,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in KLA by 7.3% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 2,157 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,932,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC now owns 672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 37.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 103 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of KLA by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 51,777 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $46,377,000 after purchasing an additional 7,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 541 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,315.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $1,575.00 price objective on KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,601.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

KLA Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,524.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $199.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $1,427.87 and a 200 day moving average of $1,202.46. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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