Mariner LLC Purchases 617 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Mariner LLC grew its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,217 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned 0.11% of KLA worth $90,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 411 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in KLA by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 253 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in KLA by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 246 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 755 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 489 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total transaction of $5,078,136.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,867,606.76. This represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC traded down $7.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $634.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,224,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,057,816. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.37. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $551.33 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company's fifty day moving average is $697.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $691.75.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. KLA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KLAC. Citigroup decreased their target price on KLA from $910.00 to $800.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $825.00 to $750.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $814.11.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.