KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,601,171 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the January 15th total of 3,040,627 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 23.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Approximately 23.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $1,500.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, January 12th. TD Cowen raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,598.96.

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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 91.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Close Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at about $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter valued at $95,217,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $119,618,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in KLA by 5,697.9% during the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,094,000 after buying an additional 95,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in KLA by 69.1% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,422,000 after buying an additional 35,770 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded up $6.06 on Tuesday, hitting $1,470.19. The stock had a trading volume of 622,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,279,270. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. KLA has a one year low of $551.33 and a one year high of $1,693.35. The company’s 50-day moving average is $1,382.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,170.96. The stock has a market cap of $192.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.47.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.20 EPS. On average, analysts expect that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. 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.