EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 58 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,172 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $5,913,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,050,000. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in shares of KLA by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 8,780 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $6,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of KLA by 1,579.3% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,589,000 after purchasing an additional 6,175 shares during the last quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA during the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,254,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KLAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of KLA from $860.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of KLA from $900.00 to $765.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James raised their price objective on KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $808.62.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC opened at $774.41 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.57, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $768.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $758.65. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $448.31 and a 12 month high of $896.32.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at KLA

In related news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total value of $536,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,231 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total transaction of $1,702,815.87. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.