Abbrea Capital LLC Cuts Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Abbrea Capital LLC cut its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 292 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 15 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the second quarter worth $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 77.3% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $751.50 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $785.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $752.79. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $440.15 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $101.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.37, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of KLA from $990.00 to $960.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $805.52.

About KLA

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.