KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,943 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $10,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in KLA during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 300.0% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in KLA by 82.3% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $724.62, for a total value of $5,078,136.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 28,798 shares in the company, valued at $20,867,606.76. This trade represents a 19.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 7.1 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $576.53 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $559.76 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The business’s fifty day moving average is $716.60 and its 200-day moving average is $700.07. The stock has a market cap of $76.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. Equities analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th were paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $725.00 target price (down from $875.00) on shares of KLA in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $832.17.

KLA 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.