PFG Investments LLC Buys 141 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 965 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jackson Square Capital LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 41.4% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 8,337 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,846,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares during the last quarter. Thematics Asset Management lifted its stake in KLA by 10.6% in the second quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 56,373 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,342,000 after purchasing an additional 5,418 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter worth $364,000. Pathstone Family Office LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 179.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 9,535 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in KLA in the third quarter worth $5,341,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

KLA Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of KLA stock opened at $696.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $94.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50 day moving average is $657.45 and its 200 day moving average is $566.45. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.38 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 19th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on KLAC. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, KLA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $641.05.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

KLA Profile

KLA Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets 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, Display and Component Inspection.