KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Position Lifted by FourThought Financial LLC

FourThought Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) by 182.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $32,000. Standard Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth $46,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the second quarter worth $60,000. Finally, Vigilant Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 37.8% during the third quarter. Vigilant Capital Management LLC now owns 226 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 87.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of KLA from $318.00 to $422.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of KLA from $335.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of KLA from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Cowen upped their price target on shares of KLA from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,020 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.47, for a total value of $388,079.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,352 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,535.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock opened at $387.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $397.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $364.13. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $250.20 and a fifty-two week high of $429.46. The company has a market capitalization of $53.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.38.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The semiconductor company reported $7.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.08 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 33.77% and a return on equity of 145.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.59 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 24.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.38%.

KLA Profile

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KLA Corp. engages in the supply of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nano-electronics industries. The company operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Process Control, Specialty Semiconductor Process, PCB, Display & Component Inspection, and Other.