CSM Advisors LLC Has $3.15 Million Stake in KLA Corporation $KLAC

CSM Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA Corporation (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 868.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,924 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,622 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at $133,209,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $95,217,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in KLA by 5,697.9% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 97,231 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $87,094,000 after acquiring an additional 95,554 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in KLA by 69.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 87,547 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $94,422,000 after acquiring an additional 35,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of KLA by 418.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,227 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,524,000 after purchasing an additional 23,586 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of KLA from $1,450.00 to $1,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $1,600.00 to $1,700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of KLA from $1,550.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $1,800.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research note on Monday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of KLA in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,602.29.

KLA Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of KLA stock opened at $1,438.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.85, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,466.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,247.05. KLA Corporation has a 12-month low of $551.33 and a 12-month high of $1,693.35.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The semiconductor company reported $8.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.75 by $0.10. KLA had a net margin of 35.76% and a return on equity of 98.18%. The company had revenue of $3.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that KLA Corporation will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $1.90 dividend. This represents a $7.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.11%.

KLA announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $7.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 3.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.