Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Decreases Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. decreased its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 52,719 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 815 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $56,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the third quarter worth $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the second quarter valued at about $95,217,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 5.8% during the third quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 101,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $109,351,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares in the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 14.9% in the second quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 98,398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,139,000 after buying an additional 12,729 shares during the period. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of KLA by 5,697.9% in the second quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after buying an additional 95,554 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,524.55 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $1,427.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,204.25. The company has a market capitalization of $199.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.45. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,693.35. 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 earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.20 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $1.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. KLA’s payout ratio is 22.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on KLAC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $1,500.00 to $1,850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of KLA from $1,751.00 to $1,809.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,601.04.

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.