Prospera Financial Services Inc Invests $364,000 in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 14th, 2023

Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased 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 acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Capital Directions Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Standard Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the third quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 87.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.02, for a total transaction of $1,759,579.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 136,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,303,908.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,020 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.47, for a total value of $388,079.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 63,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,103,535.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 4,582 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $384.02, for a total transaction of $1,759,579.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 136,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,303,908.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,506 shares of company stock worth $15,198,446 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.15% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $386.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.20. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $250.20 and a 12-month high of $429.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $379.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $382.43.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on KLA from $505.00 to $445.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KLA from $420.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. KGI Securities downgraded KLA from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. BNP Paribas downgraded KLA from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $435.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $399.26.

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.