Marcum Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Marcum Wealth LLC bought a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 361 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in KLA by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,036,035 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,577,847,000 after buying an additional 133,821 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in KLA by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,546,308 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,061,469,000 after purchasing an additional 386,810 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,048,728,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in KLA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,598,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $733,249,000 after purchasing an additional 54,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in KLA by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,267,811 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $581,496,000 after purchasing an additional 117,584 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at KLA

In other KLA news, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.00, for a total transaction of $5,953,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,399,800. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 1,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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. Also, 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 transaction of $5,953,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,399,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,136 shares of company stock worth $24,016,781 over the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

KLA Stock Down 1.6 %

KLAC opened at $816.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $744.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $671.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 2.14 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The stock has a market cap of $109.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 1.28. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $440.15 and a 12 month high of $876.55.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The semiconductor company reported $5.26 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 102.37% and a net margin of 27.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 23.3 earnings per share for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KLAC. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of KLA from $692.00 to $698.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on KLA from $625.00 to $800.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America upped their price objective on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $747.40.

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.