Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 613 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KLAC. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter worth about $26,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter worth $26,000. Finally, Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $625.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $641.05.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC traded up $1.70 on Thursday, hitting $698.57. 919,378 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 986,377. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a PEG ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $355.88 and a 12 month high of $729.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $657.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $566.45.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.