Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 18,608 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 775,979 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,608 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $451,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KLAC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in KLA by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after buying an additional 190,355 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of KLA by 12.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in KLA by 10.2% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after acquiring an additional 117,584 shares in 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. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other KLA 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 transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC traded down $4.00 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $714.38. 782,703 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 955,340. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $96.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $689.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $612.12. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $374.49 and a 52 week high of $729.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 23.24 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $722.26.

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.