Aviance Capital Partners LLC Purchases 50 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,162 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB increased its stake in KLA by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,660,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of KLA by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 648 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV grew its stake in shares of KLA by 52.4% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after buying an additional 27,436 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of KLA by 14.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after buying an additional 4,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new position in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at about $1,008,000. Institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KLAC shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $831.68.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $692.13 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $720.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $712.31. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $609.40 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.11, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. KLA’s payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

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.