Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 25 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $440,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth $572,224,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in KLA by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after buying an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in KLA by 22.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $759,532,000 after acquiring an additional 385,420 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in KLA by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,133,396,000 after buying an additional 268,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of KLA by 6,309.1% in the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 250,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $145,410,000 after buying an additional 246,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $671.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $680.78 on Monday. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $355.88 and a 52-week high of $729.15. The company has a market cap of $92.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $680.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $587.57.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.46%.

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.