Perennial Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 10.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 608 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth $15,781,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,050,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in KLA by 22.3% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 8,780 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 1,579.3% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,589,000 after acquiring an additional 6,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Objective Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Raymond James raised their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $812.80.

KLA Stock Up 0.4 %

KLAC opened at $739.60 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $779.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $754.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.74, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $440.15 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at $11,644,493.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 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.