Howe & Rusling Inc. Reduces Stock Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Howe & Rusling Inc. decreased its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 187 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $4,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its position in KLA by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 648 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of KLA by 27.6% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,778 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,161,000 after buying an additional 2,112 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,563,000. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 60.4% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 2,705 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the period. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc boosted its holdings in KLA by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 60,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,326,000 after acquiring an additional 8,028 shares in the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KLAC shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on KLA from $800.00 to $830.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on KLA from $620.00 to $655.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $830.67.

KLA Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $705.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.63. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $609.40 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The company has a market cap of $93.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $730.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $703.39.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th were given a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 24th. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.60%.

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.