Natixis Investment Managers International Cuts Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Natixis Investment Managers International decreased its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 220 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 31 shares during the quarter. Natixis Investment Managers International’s holdings in KLA were worth $128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in KLA by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,449,135,000 after purchasing an additional 190,355 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after acquiring an additional 54,472 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $626,431,000 after acquiring an additional 153,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $581,496,000 after acquiring an additional 117,584 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded down $10.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $768.97. The stock had a trading volume of 736,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,878. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $716.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $652.15. The company has a market cap of $103.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $440.15 and a 52-week high of $791.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $740.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,726,714.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,136 shares of company stock worth $24,016,781 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About KLA

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.