Leavell Investment Management Inc. Buys 16 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 537 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its stake in KLA by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 411 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of KLA by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 253 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its position in KLA by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 246 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in KLA by 1.1% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,433 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 0.4% during the third quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,459,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on KLAC shares. UBS Group upped their price target on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $831.68.

KLA Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $750.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.77 billion, a PE ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $609.40 and a 1-year high of $896.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $695.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $715.48.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.