Advisory Alpha LLC Purchases 99 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 20.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 585 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,424,000 after acquiring an additional 145,317 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 3.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after acquiring an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,083,684,000 after acquiring an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of KLA by 1.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,163,958 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $959,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,412 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $750.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.35.

KLA Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $760.95 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $661.42 and a 200-day moving average of $723.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $581.70 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The company has a market capitalization of $101.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This is a boost from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.05%.

KLA Company Profile

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.