SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Sells 185 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,289 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,733,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,288,651,000 after acquiring an additional 47,838 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in KLA by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,449,135,000 after acquiring an additional 190,355 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 10.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,133,396,000 after purchasing an additional 268,104 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of KLA by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after buying an additional 385,420 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised 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 purchasing an additional 54,472 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KLAC. New Street Research started coverage on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Susquehanna lowered shares of KLA from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $675.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $641.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:KLAC traded up $1.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $698.57. 1,080,962 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 949,839. The stock has a market cap of $94.47 billion, a PE ratio of 35.48, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $660.14 and a 200 day moving average of $567.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $7.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.74 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.