Meritage Portfolio Management Raises Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Meritage Portfolio Management raised its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,626 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,692 shares during the quarter. KLA makes up 1.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $15,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of KLAC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of KLA by 6.4% during 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 buying an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in KLA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 12.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of KLA by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. 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. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on KLA in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $720.42.

KLA Stock Performance

KLA stock traded up $35.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $707.96. 565,080 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 954,484. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $684.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $598.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.74 billion, a PE ratio of 35.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $369.00 and a fifty-two 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.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.49 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 29.46%.

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.