Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,627 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 991 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth about $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in shares of KLA by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 75 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $706.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $369.00 and a 1 year high of $729.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $685.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $600.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.31% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.49 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on KLA in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $800.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their target price on KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $720.42.

KLA Company Profile

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.