KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) Short Interest Update

KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 2,601,171 shares, a drop of 14.5% from the January 15th total of 3,040,627 shares. Currently, 23.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,444,667 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days. Currently, 23.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Basepoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 36 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $1,480.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.83. KLA has a fifty-two week low of $551.33 and a fifty-two week high of $1,693.35. The stock has a market cap of $194.04 billion, a PE ratio of 43.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $1,387.33 and a 200-day moving average of $1,173.12.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,900.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $1,575.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,598.96.

KLA Company Profile

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.