Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 367 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Meritage Portfolio Management lessened its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,142 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 367 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up about 1.4% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $20,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,327 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,827,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,063 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 95.0% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Argus Investors Counsel Inc. now owns 764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Newman Dignan & Sheerar Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,468,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KLAC shares. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research cut shares of KLA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,595.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,850.00 to $2,000.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,624.07.

KLA Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,805.32 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $1,528.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,353.16. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $607.70 and a 12 month high of $1,806.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.53, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.44.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $8.75 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Corporation will post 36.64 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.11%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

KLA Profile

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.