Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 8,973 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 14.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,563 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,973 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in KLA were worth $74,898,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in shares of KLA by 11.2% during the third quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 9,276 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $10,005,000 after buying an additional 932 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth $292,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments boosted its position in shares of KLA by 631.6% during the second quarter. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments now owns 15,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,603,000 after acquiring an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH boosted its position in shares of KLA by 1.7% during the second quarter. Oak Associates Ltd. OH now owns 90,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $80,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at $133,209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $1,575.00 target price on KLA in a report on Friday, January 30th. Argus boosted their target price on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,601.04.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $1,452.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,452.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,231.69. KLA Corporation has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $1,693.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.27, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.45.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at KLA

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

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.