LVW Advisors LLC Takes Position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

LVW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 516 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at $4,788,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. purchased a new position in KLA in the first quarter valued at $569,000. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in KLA by 4.9% in the first quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 2,416 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its holdings in KLA by 22.3% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 8,780 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $6,133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in KLA by 40.6% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,379 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the period. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC opened at $824.51 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $111.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 1.27. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $759.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $681.98. KLA Co. has a 1-year low of $440.15 and a 1-year high of $876.55.

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

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KLAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on KLA from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on KLA from $685.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on KLA from $605.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $747.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 14,009 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $716.63, for a total transaction of $10,039,269.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 93,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,748,351.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ahmad A. Khan sold 7,833 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now 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 a total of 22,861 shares of company stock valued at $16,795,913 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About KLA

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.