Oak Ridge Investments LLC Acquires 859 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,823 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 859 shares during the period. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,340,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of KLA by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 2,038 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in KLA during the third quarter worth $38,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen cut their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Thursday, December 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $806.60.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $757.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.13. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $577.00 and a 52 week high of $896.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $654.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $725.36.

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

KLA Increases Dividend

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

About KLA

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.