&Partners Increases Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

&Partners increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report) by 102.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,463 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the quarter. &Partners’ holdings in KLA were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 77.3% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $37,000 after bought an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KLAC. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $990.00 to $960.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 target price on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $820.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $805.29, according to MarketBeat.

Check out our latest research report on KLA

Indoor activity

In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible via this link. In other news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total value of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s shares.

KLA price performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $817.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.50, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $806.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $741.06. KLA Co. has a 12-month low of $440.15 and a 12-month high of $896.32. The stock has a market cap of $110.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.84, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC – Get Your Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. In the same period last year, the firm earned $5.40 per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA announces dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a dividend of $5.80 on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

KLA profile

(Free report)

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures and markets process control, process enablement and yield management solutions for the semiconductor and related electronics industries worldwide. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Process Control; Specialty process with semiconductors; and PCB, display and component inspection.

Further reading

Want to see what other hedge funds own KLAC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trading for KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC – Free Report).

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