Delta Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Delta Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 425 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of KLA by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in KLA by 12.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $626,431,000 after purchasing an additional 153,752 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in KLA by 10.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $581,496,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 52.8% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on KLAC. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup increased their price target on KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $720.42.

KLA Trading Up 4.9 %

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $33.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $706.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,193,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 821,545. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $685.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $599.79. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $369.00 and a 52 week high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.