Boltwood Capital Management Lowers Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Boltwood Capital Management decreased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 36 shares during the quarter. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 54,204 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $31,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $452,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in KLA by 119.8% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 25,234 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,669,000 after purchasing an additional 13,752 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its stake in KLA by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 8,354 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,856,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup dropped their target price on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $808.62.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. Insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

KLA Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $777.36 on Thursday. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $448.31 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.66 billion, a PE ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $768.31 and its 200-day moving average is $759.26.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

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.