Handelsbanken Fonder AB Trims Stock Position in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lessened its stake in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 58,369 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 601 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in KLA were worth $62,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 28.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the period. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC increased its position in KLA by 2,766.7% during the 2nd quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 86 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $1,524.31 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $1,422.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,196.34. KLA Corporation has a 1-year low of $551.33 and a 1-year high of $1,693.35. The company has a market cap of $199.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 2.00.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KLAC. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on shares of KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,450.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on KLA from $1,750.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $1,601.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 91.48% of the company’s stock.

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.