Aviance Capital Partners LLC Sells 735 Shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLACFree Report) by 23.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 735 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KLAC. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,786 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 97.1% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 6,198 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in KLA by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 5,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in KLA by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 158,852 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $100,096,000 after purchasing an additional 14,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Souders Financial Advisors lifted its stake in KLA by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 431 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total transaction of $7,381,006.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 78,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $766.46, for a total transaction of $781,022.74. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,779 shares in the company, valued at $21,291,492.34. This trade represents a 3.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,860 shares of company stock valued at $8,196,798. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on KLA from $868.00 to $916.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on KLA from $690.00 to $740.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $830.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $818.06.

Read Our Latest Report on KLA

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $914.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $120.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.42. KLA Corporation has a twelve month low of $551.33 and a twelve month high of $928.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $799.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $731.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLACGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.08 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $3.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. KLA’s quarterly revenue was up 35.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.26 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 30th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 27.63%.

KLA Company Profile

(Free Report)

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC)

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