New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 338 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

New Century Financial Group LLC decreased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 691 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 77.3% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $44,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the first quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the second quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $804.57.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $678.52 on Monday. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $452.01 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $770.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $764.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $91.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.40 EPS. KLA’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.13 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About KLA

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.