261 Shares in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Purchased by Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 261 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in KLA in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in KLA in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in KLA in the second quarter worth about $44,000. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at KLA

In related news, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,063,876.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other KLA news, CAO Virendra A. Kirloskar sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,231 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,749,473.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mary Beth Wilkinson sold 2,611 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $652.17, for a total value of $1,702,815.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,063,876.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,917 shares of company stock valued at $14,568,247. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of KLA from $700.00 to $760.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James upped 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. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $950.00 price objective on shares of KLA in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $812.80.

KLA Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $758.85 on Friday. KLA Co. has a 1 year low of $440.15 and a 1 year high of $896.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.28. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $772.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $755.00.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last posted 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. KLA had a return on equity of 103.50% and a net margin of 28.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that KLA Co. will post 29.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $1.45 dividend. This represents a $5.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. KLA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.38%.

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.