Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 3,132 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 8th, 2023

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,679 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,132 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $9,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 105 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Capital Directions Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA in the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Standard Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. BNP Paribas lowered KLA from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $435.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Cowen lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $325.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of KLA from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on KLA from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $399.26.

KLA Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $385.66 on Monday. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $250.20 and a 1-year high of $429.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $52.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $378.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $379.83.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The semiconductor company reported $5.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.30 by $0.19. KLA had a return on equity of 167.59% and a net margin of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 24.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 3,831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $389.55, for a total transaction of $1,492,366.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,984,229.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,020 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.47, for a total value of $388,079.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 63,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,103,535.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 3,831 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $389.55, for a total transaction of $1,492,366.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,002 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,984,229.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 34,924 shares of company stock valued at $13,438,866. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About KLA

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KLA Corp. engages in the supply of process control and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related nano-electronics industries. The company operates through the following segments: Semiconductor Process Control, Specialty Semiconductor Process, PCB, Display & Component Inspection, and Other.