J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Acquires 78 Shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its position in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 375 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in KLA were worth $236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in KLA by 2.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,979,293 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,630,424,000 after buying an additional 145,317 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 32,828.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,408,617 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,221,694 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,487,971,000 after purchasing an additional 93,743 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 25.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 286,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of KLA by 5.5% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 945,835 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $732,464,000 after purchasing an additional 49,470 shares during the last quarter. 86.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KLAC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $800.00 to $825.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of KLA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $759.00 to $864.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of KLA from $795.00 to $870.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $831.68.

KLA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KLAC opened at $754.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $706.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $715.48. KLA Co. has a fifty-two week low of $609.40 and a fifty-two week high of $896.32. The firm has a market cap of $100.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.28.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The semiconductor company reported $8.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.73 by $0.47. KLA had a net margin of 29.58% and a return on equity of 108.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 31.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Monday, February 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.70 per share. This represents a $6.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 24th. KLA’s payout ratio is 28.60%.

KLA Profile

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.