Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Sells 29 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 872 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of KLAC. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in KLA during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 163.9% in the third quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 95 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on KLA from $670.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen upped their price target on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $805.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $722.26.

KLA Stock Up 1.1 %

KLAC opened at $713.93 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $686.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $603.00. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $369.66 and a 52 week high of $729.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $96.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.34.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 19th were issued a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total transaction of $2,272,897.45. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of KLA 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 in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.