Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Raises Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 44.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 724 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at about $627,399,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at about $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in KLA by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in KLA by 43.4% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 997,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $580,008,000 after purchasing an additional 301,848 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on KLAC shares. Susquehanna reduced their target price on KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on KLA from $990.00 to $960.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $805.29.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLAC stock traded up $19.72 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $777.26. 183,767 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 929,768. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $440.15 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $104.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $803.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $729.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,769 shares of company stock valued at $21,324,890 in the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.