KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Sold by Barnett & Company Inc.

Barnett & Company Inc. lessened its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 765 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Barnett & Company Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $482,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Haverford Trust Co lifted its holdings in KLA by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 2,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of KLA by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 45,092 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,413,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,484,468 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $8,496,833,000 after buying an additional 85,370 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in KLA by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 95,988 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $60,484,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 6,342 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,996,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $830.67.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of KLAC opened at $706.49 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $609.40 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $729.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $703.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.60%.

KLA Company 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.