Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,961 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 197 shares during the quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its stake in KLA by 0.4% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 550,949 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $426,660,000 after purchasing an additional 2,019 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in KLA by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 648 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its stake in KLA by 52.4% during the third quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 79,763 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $61,769,000 after purchasing an additional 27,436 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in KLA by 14.1% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenwich Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of KLA by 260.7% in the third quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,378 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $831.68.

KLA Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $754.30 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. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $609.40 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $708.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $715.83. The stock has a market cap of $100.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 24th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 24th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.60%.

KLA Profile

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.