SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 8,766 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

SG Americas Securities LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,461 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 8,766 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $24,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in KLA by 0.4% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,087 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 9 shares during the last quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 836 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 267 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,451.13 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,480.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,277.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $190.21 billion, a PE ratio of 42.22, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.25 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 98.18% and a net margin of 35.76%.The company’s revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to buy up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $1.90 per share. This represents a $7.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KLAC shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on KLA from $1,850.00 to $1,700.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Evercore increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,602.29.

KLA Profile

KLA is a provider of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related microelectronics industries. The company designs and manufactures equipment, software and services used by chipmakers to analyze and control manufacturing processes, detect defects, measure critical dimensions and improve yield across wafer fabrication, photomask and packaging operations. KLA’s offerings are aimed at enabling production of advanced logic, memory, and specialty devices at progressively smaller technology nodes and more complex package structures.

Its product portfolio includes optical and e-beam inspection systems, metrology tools for critical dimension and film measurement, mask and reticle inspection platforms, as well as enterprise software and data analytics that aggregate process data and drive automated process control.