Paragon Capital Management Inc. Invests $716,000 in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Paragon Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 924 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in KLA by 77.3% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of KLA during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of KLA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction of $536,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,873 shares of company stock worth $14,532,193. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of KLA stock opened at $682.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $452.01 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $773.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $764.72.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.13 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on KLAC. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $900.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $804.57.

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.