Tower Wealth Partners Inc. Takes Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Tower Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 291 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 77.3% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 2.0 %

KLAC stock opened at $736.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $99.15 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $440.15 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $782.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $754.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,257,998.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KLAC shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $812.80.

KLA Company Profile

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.