Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Buys Shares of 1,599 KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,599 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,253,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KLAC. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its position in KLA by 77.3% during the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in KLA during the second quarter valued at $44,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the second quarter worth about $53,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Down 0.8 %

KLAC opened at $797.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.91 billion, a PE ratio of 39.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $768.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $762.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $452.01 and a 52 week high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,257,998.29. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays upped their price objective on KLA from $765.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on KLA from $760.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $925.00 price target on shares of KLA in a research report on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $804.81.

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.