Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Sells 2,452 Shares of KLA Corporation $KLAC

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC reduced its holdings in KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,452 shares during the period. KLA accounts for about 1.4% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased 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 worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 28.6% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 45 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 10 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on KLAC. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $1,500.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Argus upped their target price on shares of KLA from $1,400.00 to $1,750.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore lifted their price target on KLA from $1,350.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,595.39.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 2,254 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,237.01, for a total value of $2,788,220.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 32,154 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,774,819.54. The trade was a 6.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 10,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,203.10, for a total value of $12,997,089.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 81,211 shares in the company, valued at $97,704,954.10. This represents a 11.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 91.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Price Performance

KLA stock opened at $1,442.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $189.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. KLA Corporation has a 12 month low of $551.33 and a 12 month high of $1,693.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $1,347.11 and its 200-day moving average is $1,140.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $8.20 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

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.