Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC Lowers Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,183 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in KLA during the first quarter worth $379,678,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of KLA by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,032,017 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $720,936,000 after buying an additional 211,227 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in KLA by 2,205.8% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 201,592 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $166,215,000 after buying an additional 192,849 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 136.2% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 309,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,667,000 after purchasing an additional 178,474 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Argus upped 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $804.81.

Insider Activity

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $774.56 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $768.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $759.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.29 billion, a PE ratio of 40.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $449.35 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

KLA Company 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.