B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases 194 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,518 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $1,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 6,847 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,577,847,000 after acquiring an additional 133,821 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its stake in KLA by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 2,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in KLA by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,180 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Objective Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $863.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 2.14. KLA Co. has a one year low of $440.15 and a one year high of $876.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.22, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average is $738.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $667.85.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.94 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. KLA had a net margin of 27.19% and a return on equity of 102.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.49 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 23.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of KLA in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on KLA from $725.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $747.40.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total value of $803,563.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,726,714.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total value of $5,953,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,399,800. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of KLA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $788.58, for a total transaction of $803,563.02. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,726,714.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 33,136 shares of company stock valued at $24,016,781. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA Company 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.