Verity & Verity LLC Has $597,000 Stock Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 771 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the third quarter valued at $492,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 17,764 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,756,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at about $447,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in KLA by 22.5% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 13,138 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,174,000 after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of KLA by 39.8% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KLAC. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $925.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of KLA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $802.90.

KLA Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ KLAC opened at $620.26 on Tuesday. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $527.11 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $719.23 and its 200 day moving average is $763.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The company has a market cap of $82.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 105.16% and a net margin of 28.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is an increase from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.48%.

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.