KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Stock Position Raised by Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 824 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in KLA were worth $519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KLAC. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at about $297,000. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.8% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $753,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,935 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,542,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in KLA by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 2,585 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,131,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $256,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KLAC. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC upgraded KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $750.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lowered their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $806.60.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $757.47 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $654.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $725.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $577.00 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $101.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.05%.

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.