KLA Corporation $KLAC Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 28.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 20,533 shares during the period. KLA comprises 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in KLA were worth $64,235,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in KLA by 125.0% during the third quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aventura Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at $55,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Zacks Research lowered KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on 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. Dbs Bank raised KLA from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. New Street Research raised their price target on KLA from $1,315.00 to $1,460.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,602.29.

KLA Stock Down 0.5%

KLA stock opened at $1,443.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00. KLA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1,477.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,280.90. The firm has a market cap of $189.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.45.

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 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 was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $8.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

KLA announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.