KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Purchased by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 77.3% during 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. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in KLA by 2,033.3% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth $44,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KLA during the first quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on KLAC. Argus boosted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on KLA in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $750.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $808.62.

KLA Stock Performance

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $774.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $104.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $448.31 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $768.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $758.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.