KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Short Interest Update

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,601,171 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the January 15th total of 3,040,627 shares. Approximately 23.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Based on an average daily volume of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 23.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total transaction of $2,788,220.54. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. This trade represents a 6.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 91.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $36,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 52.7% during the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 397 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 2,179 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 25,341 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,699,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in KLA by 38.8% in the second quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,191 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,067,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of KLAC traded up $20.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $1,490.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 286,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,247,779. The company has a market cap of $195.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,382.50 and a 200 day moving average of $1,170.96. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. KLA has a 1 year low of $551.33 and a 1 year high of $1,693.35.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $1,300.00 to $1,800.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $1,575.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $1,598.96.

About KLA

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.