KLA Corporation $KLAC Stock: GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC Lowers Position

GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC reduced its position in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,825 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 13,788 shares during the period. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Formuepleje A S lifted its holdings in KLA by 1,125.5% during the second quarter. Formuepleje A S now owns 30,062 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $9,070,000 after purchasing an additional 27,609 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co grew its position in shares of KLA by 829.7% in the second quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co now owns 7,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 6,654 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of KLA by 7.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 275,745 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $53,751,000 after purchasing an additional 19,700 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of KLA by 1,195.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,510,000 after purchasing an additional 13,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,728 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,600,000 after purchasing an additional 8,225 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on KLA from $238.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $220.35.

KLA Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of KLAC opened at $153.11 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $178.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $181.82. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $107.20 and a 12-month high of $307.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $199.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.04. KLA had a net margin of 36.25% and a return on equity of 91.73%. The firm had revenue of $4.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.47 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Corporation will post 5.67 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. KLA’s payout ratio is 23.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra Kirloskar sold 4,504 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.50, for a total transaction of $880,532.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,972 shares in the company, valued at $1,558,526. This represents a 36.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 59,586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.13, for a total transaction of $12,401,634.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 77,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,167,746.53. This represents a 43.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 237,479 shares of company stock worth $45,780,736. 79.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About KLA

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) develops process control, inspection and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and other advanced manufacturing industries. Its technologies help manufacturers identify defects, measure critical dimensions and monitor production processes to improve quality, reliability and manufacturing efficiency.

The company’s product portfolio includes wafer and reticle inspection systems, metrology and measurement tools, defect review and classification systems, and software for analyzing manufacturing data.