KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) Shares Purchased by Fortem Financial Group LLC

Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. KLA accounts for approximately 1.4% of Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in KLA were worth $3,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,745 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,620,000 after buying an additional 297 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic raised its stake in shares of KLA by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 3,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,890,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of KLA by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of KLA by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 172,389 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $133,500,000 after acquiring an additional 8,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of KLA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,700,000. 86.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on KLAC. Citigroup decreased their price objective on KLA from $960.00 to $900.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of KLA from $680.00 to $675.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of KLA from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $750.00 to $850.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on KLA from $760.00 to $725.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, KLA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $816.63.

KLA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $33.70 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $690.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,094,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 928,033. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $548.84 and a twelve month high of $896.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average is $649.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $732.79. The company has a market cap of $92.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported $7.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.03 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.75 billion. KLA had a net margin of 28.92% and a return on equity of 105.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 30.61 EPS for the current year.

KLA Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $1.70 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. KLA’s payout ratio is 31.05%.

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.