Valmark Advisers Inc. Acquires 131 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 643 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in KLA by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,159,498 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,449,135,000 after buying an additional 190,355 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in KLA by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $733,249,000 after buying an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in KLA by 12.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,365,784 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $626,431,000 after buying an additional 153,752 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in KLA by 10.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after buying an additional 117,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in KLA by 52.8% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on KLAC shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $720.42.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $706.26 on Monday. KLA Co. has a one year low of $369.00 and a one year high of $729.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $685.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $601.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.94 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.49 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

KLA 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.