Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 77.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,998 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,619 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zhang Financial LLC boosted its position in KLA by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 3,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,776,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 8.3% during the second quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 328 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Western Financial Corp CA grew its position in KLA by 80.6% during the second quarter. Western Financial Corp CA now owns 2,615 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,156,000 after buying an additional 1,167 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its holdings in KLA by 529.7% in the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of KLA by 6.9% in the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 61,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $50,833,000 after acquiring an additional 3,957 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total transaction of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,769 shares of company stock valued at $21,324,890 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of KLAC traded down $7.73 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $811.84. The company had a trading volume of 264,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 930,504. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $440.15 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $806.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $735.61. The stock has a market cap of $109.31 billion, a PE ratio of 42.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. KLA’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Argus upped their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $805.29.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.