Oreste Donzella Sells 3,257 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $696.87 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a one year low of $355.88 and a one year high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market cap of $94.24 billion, a PE ratio of 35.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $657.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $566.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $685.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday. Bank of America lifted their price target on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $641.05.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $1,601,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $575,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $1,050,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,518 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 6,847 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.