HBW Advisory Services LLC Purchases 233 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 42.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 781 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KLAC. Czech National Bank grew its stake in KLA by 6.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 27,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $21,206,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of KLA by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 11,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,291,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of KLA by 41,062.2% during the 2nd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 99,201 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $81,792,000 after buying an additional 98,960 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in shares of KLA by 106.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 689 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of KLA during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,935,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of KLA from $950.00 to $870.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on KLA from $800.00 to $950.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $804.81.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $12.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $787.39. 757,463 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 926,023. 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 $106.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.27. KLA Co. has a 52-week low of $449.35 and a 52-week high of $896.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $768.54 and a 200-day moving average of $760.04.

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

KLA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Transactions at KLA

In related news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total transaction of $12,293,259.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,257,998.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.01, for a total value of $12,293,259.37. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 105,329 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,257,998.29. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,873 shares of company stock valued at $14,532,193 over the last three months. 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.