Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases New Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 963 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in KLA during the first quarter worth $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of KLA by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of KLA by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of KLA by 25.7% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $720,936,000 after purchasing an additional 211,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in KLA by 136.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $214,667,000 after buying an additional 178,474 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KLA Trading Down 2.0 %

KLAC opened at $736.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.15 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a one year low of $440.15 and a one year 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $782.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $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 the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on KLAC. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $950.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $812.80.

KLA 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.