Advisory Alpha LLC Has $369,000 Stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 585 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KLAC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 32,828.8% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,419,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,647,708,000 after acquiring an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in KLA by 76,452.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 302,382 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $234,168,000 after acquiring an additional 301,987 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in KLA by 25.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,399,367 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,083,684,000 after acquiring an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in KLA by 6,188.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 239,404 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $185,397,000 after acquiring an additional 235,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in KLA by 10,766.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 228,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $176,720,000 after acquiring an additional 226,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of KLA from $665.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of KLA from $746.00 to $703.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of KLA from $850.00 to $759.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $806.35.

KLA Price Performance

KLAC stock opened at $760.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. KLA Co. has a 12 month low of $581.70 and a 12 month high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $101.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $661.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $723.50.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.03 by $0.30. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.74 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that KLA Co. will post 30.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $1.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This is a positive change from KLA’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. This represents a $6.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. KLA’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

About KLA

KLA Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of 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 and Component Inspection.