West Paces Advisors Inc. Buys 17 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 210 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of KLA by 431.3% during the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,560 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,890 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC increased its stake in KLA by 173.8% in the 4th quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,881,000 after acquiring an additional 2,054 shares during the last quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $208,000. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in KLA in the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC increased its stake in KLA by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $646,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KLAC. Bank of America upped their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price on KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group increased their price objective on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $688.42.

KLA Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $680.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.96 billion, a PE ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.34. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $355.88 and a 1-year high of $729.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $683.11 and a 200 day moving average of $590.78. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.38 EPS. KLA’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.65 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.46%.

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.