KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 295 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 17 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. APG Asset Management US Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at $15,781,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $1,050,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in KLA by 22.3% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 8,780 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC lifted its holdings in KLA by 1,579.3% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,589,000 after purchasing an additional 6,175 shares during the period. Finally, Objective Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $819.40, for a total transaction of $36,053.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Brian Lorig sold 44 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,644,493.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247 over the last 90 days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $731.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $98.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $776.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $754.25. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $440.15 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. KLA’s payout ratio is 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $950.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $812.80.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.