Westpac Banking Corp Buys 932 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 11.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 932 shares during the quarter. KLA accounts for about 0.6% of Westpac Banking Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in KLA were worth $10,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in KLA by 125.0% in the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in KLA during the third quarter worth about $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 28.6% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 119.4% during the 3rd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 79 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 2.7%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,546.68 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35. The stock has a market cap of $202.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,416.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,194.05.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Insider Activity

In other KLA 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 transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,601.04.

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.