Duality Advisers LP Makes New Investment in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $252,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $327,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of KLA by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 53,237 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,947,000 after acquiring an additional 7,912 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,513,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of KLA by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 12,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,379,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at KLA

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 transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $633.64 on Tuesday. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $355.88 and a 12-month high of $729.15. The company has a market capitalization of $85.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $683.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $595.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.38 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is presently 29.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on KLA in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James boosted their price target on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upped their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $688.42.

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.