Palisade Asset Management LLC Has $1.78 Million Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Palisade Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,060 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of KLA by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after purchasing an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in KLA by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in KLA by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of KLA by 10.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $722.26.

KLA Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of KLA stock traded up $2.77 on Wednesday, reaching $717.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 629,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 950,165. The company has a market capitalization of $96.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $374.49 and a 52 week high of $729.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $689.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $612.12.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 23.24 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 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 corporate insiders.

KLA 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.