Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 891 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,424,000 after purchasing an additional 145,317 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,487,971,000 after acquiring an additional 93,743 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in KLA by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,394,260 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $953,774,000 after acquiring an additional 119,845 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in KLA by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,153,043 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $726,555,000 after acquiring an additional 64,238 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of KLA by 5.5% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $732,464,000 after buying an additional 49,470 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KLAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $703.00 to $748.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $725.00 to $850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.67.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock opened at $713.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $726.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $705.71. The company has a market capitalization of $94.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $609.40 and a 1-year high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a return on equity of 108.60% and a net margin of 29.58%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 31.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 24th were issued a $1.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.60%.

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.