Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Buys New Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 616 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $508,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 77.3% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $950.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group dropped their target price on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $809.81.

KLA Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $782.40 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $769.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $757.17. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $443.71 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

About KLA

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.