KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by Exchange Traded Concepts LLC

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC reduced its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 42.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 2,138 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at approximately $508,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in KLA during the second quarter worth $218,000. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 16.6% during the second quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,099,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at $239,000. Finally, Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.5% during the second quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

KLA Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of KLAC stock opened at $749.82 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $666.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $721.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $581.70 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company posted $5.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. KLA’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $795.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer upgraded KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays cut 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, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.47.

KLA 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.