J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 295 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 17 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 77.3% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 39 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KLA in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 2,033.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KLAC. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of KLA from $730.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $875.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $735.00 to $838.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $875.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $812.80.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC opened at $731.04 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $776.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $754.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.15. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $440.15 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The semiconductor company reported $6.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.15 by $0.45. KLA had a net margin of 28.15% and a return on equity of 103.50%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. KLA’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 29.09 EPS for the current year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard P. Wallace sold 17,437 shares of KLA stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $74,257,998.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of KLA stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $649.84, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,749,473.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,917 shares of company stock worth $14,568,247 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA 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.