Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 77 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 717 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 77 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in KLA by 0.8% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,733,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,288,651,000 after acquiring an additional 47,838 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 6.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,449,135,000 after purchasing an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 10.4% during 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 during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 22.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after purchasing an additional 385,420 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after purchasing an additional 54,472 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $676.45 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $355.88 and a 1 year high of $729.15. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $681.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $589.12. The company has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.46, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research initiated coverage on KLA in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $688.42.

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

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.