KCM Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,281 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $12,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. grew its position in KLA by 3.2% in the third quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 622 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in KLA by 12.4% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,357 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in KLA by 1.8% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,702,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in KLA by 5.7% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 41,871 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $32,425,000 after purchasing an additional 2,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 3.9% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,499 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $890.00 to $750.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer raised shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $802.90.

KLA Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ KLAC traded down $20.71 on Friday, hitting $624.29. The stock had a trading volume of 310,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 955,682. The stock has a market cap of $83.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $527.11 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $724.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $764.10.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. 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 company earned $5.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 30.91 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $1.70 dividend. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.48%.

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.