KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by West Coast Financial LLC

West Coast Financial LLC lessened its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,528 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 8,116 shares during the quarter. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in KLA in the first quarter valued at $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of KLA by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in KLA by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in KLA by 2,205.8% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $166,215,000 after purchasing an additional 192,849 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 136.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $214,667,000 after buying an additional 178,474 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $804.57.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock traded up $3.35 during trading on Friday, hitting $801.33. The stock had a trading volume of 310,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,745. The stock has a market cap of $107.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $452.01 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $769.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $762.59.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at $6,063,876.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Profile

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.