LPL Financial LLC Buys 1,082 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 95,988 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $60,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 48 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in KLA by 82.3% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,038 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of KLAC opened at $705.54 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $609.40 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $730.46 and a 200 day moving average of $703.39.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is 28.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.67.

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.