Ritholtz Wealth Management Grows Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,155 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in KLA were worth $2,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 4.7% during the third quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 466 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 4.4% during the third quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 502 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of KLA by 0.6% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 3,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 5.7% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 427 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of KLA by 2.5% during the third quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 947 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KLA news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total value of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at $22,825,670. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Bren D. Higgins sold 7,018 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.04, for a total transaction of $4,947,970.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 32,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,825,670. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $697.85, for a total value of $2,272,897.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,809,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna downgraded KLA from a “positive” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $675.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on KLA from $500.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James lifted their price target on KLA from $550.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on KLA from $740.00 to $850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $641.05.

KLA Stock Performance

KLAC stock traded up $1.70 on Thursday, reaching $698.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,080,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,964. KLA Co. has a 52 week low of $355.88 and a 52 week high of $729.15. The company has a market capitalization of $94.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $660.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $567.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.91 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.91 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. KLA had a return on equity of 107.56% and a net margin of 27.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KLA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 19th were given a $1.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $5.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. KLA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.46%.

KLA Company 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.