KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,700,000 shares, a growth of 20.0% from the August 15th total of 2,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 957,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,257,998.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KLA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KLAC. 9258 Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $210,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of KLA by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,393 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $810,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in KLA by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 902 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in KLA by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in KLA by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Susquehanna cut their target price on KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.80.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC traded up $3.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $739.60. The stock had a trading volume of 852,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 930,100. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $99.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. KLA has a 52 week low of $440.15 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $782.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $754.26.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

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

KLA Company Profile

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.