KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Bought by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 11.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,900 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in KLA were worth $11,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of KLA by 527.3% during the 1st quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 69 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on KLA from $590.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on KLA from $950.00 to $900.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $830.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $858.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 39 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $891.50, for a total value of $34,768.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 2,616 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,332,164. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $683.30, for a total value of $7,381,006.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 78,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,803,042. This represents a 12.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,860 shares of company stock worth $8,196,798 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $923.15 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. KLA Corporation has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $945.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $864.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $764.06. The firm has a market cap of $122.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.42.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.08 by $0.33. KLA had a return on equity of 112.97% and a net margin of 31.99%. The company had revenue of $3.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.90 per share. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.70. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.63%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About KLA

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.