Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Invests $356,000 in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in KLA Co. (NASDAQ:KLAC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 613 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in KLA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $572,224,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in KLA by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156,913 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $530,630,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of KLA by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,074,884 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $759,532,000 after buying an additional 385,420 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of KLA by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,844,959 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,133,396,000 after buying an additional 268,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of KLA by 6,309.1% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 250,147 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,410,000 after purchasing an additional 246,244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KLAC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $525.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of KLA in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of KLA from $750.00 to $760.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of KLA from $560.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of KLA from $565.00 to $725.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KLA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $641.05.

KLA Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ KLAC traded up $1.70 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $698.57. The stock had a trading volume of 919,378 shares, compared to its average volume of 986,377. KLA Co. has a twelve month low of $355.88 and a twelve month high of $729.15. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $657.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $566.45. The firm has a market cap of $94.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.91.

KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The semiconductor company reported $6.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.91 by $0.25. KLA had a net margin of 27.98% and a return on equity of 107.56%. The firm had revenue of $2.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $7.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that KLA Co. will post 22.74 EPS for the current year.

KLA Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at KLA

In other news, EVP Oreste Donzella sold 3,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,922 shares in the company, valued at $11,809,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

KLA 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.